Malkangiri: Coinciding with the Republic Day, three hardcore Maoists including a woman, who carried Rs one lakh each on head, surrendered before the police in Odisha’s Malkangiri after being impressed with the development works in the district.
The Maoists gave up arms in the presence of Director Intelligence Sanjeeb Panda, ADG (Ops) Amitabh Thakur, DIG SIW Anirudh Singh, DIG (SWR) Rajesh Pandit, DIG BSF Madan Lal and Malkangiri SP Nitesh Wadhwan, police said.
The three were identified as Manoj Madhi (24), Pandu Kabasi (27) and Aite Karttami (21), police said, adding that the Odisha government had announced cash reward of Rs one lakh each on their heads. All of them hailed from Malkangiri district.
Madhi was working as member of Mahupadar under DKSZC, while Kabasi had joined the banned CPI (Maoist) party in 2017. Aite Karttami had joined the outlawed outfit in 2022. Prior to joining the Maoist group, she was working as militia.
The ultras decided to give up the path of violence primarily because of appeals by the Chief Minister and DGP to give up arms and become part of the mainstream for peaceful development of these areas. This appeal has influenced many active Maoist cadres to shun the path of violence and to join the mainstream. In past three years more than 23 active Maoist cadres and hundreds of active militias/Maoist sympathisers have surrendered in Malkangiri district, a police release said.
Establishment of many security camps in the surrounding area of Tulsi pahad has also led them to surrender, since it has created a peaceful and secure environment in the area. Increased police operations and fear of police action also led to curtailment of anti-national, anti-local, coercive actions of Maoist party.
They saw various developmental activities being undertaken by the government in this area and realised the futility of violent path of Naxalism. They understood that Maoist themselves are standing in the path of development through subversive activities. For that purpose, they are making innocent tribals to fight among themselves and once their utility is over, they are being branded as police informers and killed mercilessly.
They got disillusioned with the party leaders after realising that they are doing nothing for the development of their area and are only interested in their own interests.
Meanwhile, Maoist posters surfaced at several places in Kalyansinghpur area of Rayagada district urging people to boycott the Republic Day celebrations, sources said.
One of the posters put up on the wall of the panchayat office alleged that there was no democracy in the country. “Democracy is for the rich, not for the poor,” the posters read.
Security was tightened and no untoward incident was reported from the area, they added.
