Bhubaneswar: Odisha is on the verge of being declared Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)-free, keeping with the March 31 deadline, with last senior active Maoist of the state, Sukru, laying down arms following the surrender of state committee members – Nikhil and Indu – on February 6.
The 49-year-old Maoist commander came voluntarily along with four junior Maoist cadres to surrender before the police in Kandhamal district on Tuesday, almost a month after orchestrating the murder of fellow Maoist leader Anwesh to stop him from giving up arms.
The neutralization of his deputy platoon commander Jagesh and party member Ratna in an encounter with security forces last month in the Nandabali Reserved Forest had also come as a blow for the Maoist leader and weakened the outfit at the local level.
Speaking to the media, ADG, Anti-Naxal Operations, Sanjeeb Panda credited the special intelligence wing, special operations group, Kandhamal district police and central armed police force for securing the significant breakthrough. “Sukru was the last surviving member of the state committee of the banned CPI (Maoist). The joint efforts finally led him and the other four Maoists to surrender,” he said, terming it as a significant push for the ongoing efforts to make the state LWE free within the given deadline.
Odisha Police had earlier said that it had tracked down Sukru’s hiding spot with the help of drones and other gadgets, and joint teams, comprising personnel from the Special Operations Group (SOG), BSF, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and other security units were advancing cautiously, inch by inch, through the dense forest at the trijunction of Kandhamal, Rayagada, and Kalahandi districts, where he was taking shelter.
The surrender of the top Maoist leader and four others has now brought down the total count of the active ultras in the state to 8-9, which includes senior cadre Sila, a divisional committee member. Sukru was supported by the duo of Sila and Jagesh.
Panda urged the remaining Maoists to abandon violence and join the mainstream, taking advantage of the Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy of the state government.
Lone Odisha Moist Leader
A native of Odisha’s Malkangiri district, Sukru carried a bounty of Rs 55 lakh on his head as a state committee member. Belonging to the local Koya tribal community, he was recruited by the banned outfit in 1997. He was soon sent to the Dandakaranya region and returned to Odisha in 2007 as an underground cadre, after being transferred to the outfit’s Ghumsar division. He rose steadily through the ranks and eventually served as divisional secretary, overseeing the outfit’s operations across four districts of Ganjam, Kandhamal, Gajapati, and Rayagada.
Sukru shifted to the Niyamgiri division in 2012 and continued working there until 2017. He was a trusted, long-term lieutenant of Modem Bala Krishna, a central committee member and Odisha secretary Modem Balakrishna, who was killed in Chhattisgarh in September 2025, The Print reported, quoting police records.
Prior to his surrender, Sukru was said to be operating in the Kandhamal–Kalahandi–Rayagada border region with a small group of around 13 cadres.
Odisha Police had earlier termed the surrender of Niranjan Rout alias Nikhil and his wife Rasmita Lenka alias Indu, in Rayagada as a “turning point” in the fight against LWE in the state. They served in the second-highest tier of the Maoist hierarchy. Nikhil was a secretary of the Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Niyamgiri (BGN) division and played a key role in maintaining the Maoist network.
In a video message released after his surrender, Nikhil, a native of Tentulibelari village in Jagatsinghpur district, said the “armed struggle” had lost its direction and was drifting away from the people it claimed to represent. “Leave the gun, come to the mainstream and work for society in a democratic manner,” he added.
Indu hails from Rasikanagar village in Cuttack district.
CM’s Statement In Assembly
On Monday, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi informed the Assembly that the number of active Maoists in Odisha has declined from 40 to 15 within a month. He further stated that only Kandhamal district is currently classified as LWE-affected. Eight other districts — Boudh, Balangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Rayagada — are listed as legacy and thrust (L&T) districts.
A total of 96 Maoists and militia members have surrendered in Odisha over the past two years, he added.
