37 Maoists, including 27 rebels with a combined reward of 65 lakh, surrendered on Sunday (30 November) in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh’s South Bastar.
Dantewada district superintendent of police Gaurav Rai said the group included 12 women who had remained active in various local units. He said senior cadres Kumali alias Anita Mandavi, Geeta alias Laxmi Madkam, Ranjan alias Soma Mandavi and Bhima alias Jahaj Kalmu also surrendered. Each of them carried a reward of 8 lakh.
Officials said the district has seen steady desertions in the past 20 months. As many as 508 Maoists have surrendered in Dantewada during this period, and 165 of them carried rewards for their arrest.
Security officers said the wider Bastar division, which includes Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Dantewada, Sukma, Narayanpur and Bijapur, recorded 2,250 surrenders in the last 20 months. At least a dozen top Maoists of the region surrendered during this time.
More than 80 Maoists have laid down arms in the Bastar division in the past fortnight. Officials said the numbers show an ongoing trend of desertion across multiple districts as security operations continue.
