Naxal couple surrenders over mistreatment, discrimination by seniors

A hardcore Naxal couple, for whom the police had announced a reward of Rs 12 lakh, surrendered before the Gadchiroli police on Thursday. The couple reportedly told the police that women and children are mistreated by senior Maoists, who keep couples separate from each other. They also said there is discrimination between senior and junior cadres in providing basic facilities, which led them to surrender.

They have been identified as Kolu alias Vikas alias Sukant Vinod Pada, 27, resident of Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh and his wife and a Gadchiroli resident, Raje alias Debo Jairam Usendi, 30.

According to the Superintendent of Police (Gadchiroli) Ankit Goyal, Sukant had joined the Naxal dalam in 2010. “He was involved in three murders, seven encounters and a robbery. A total of 11 offences were registered against him. He had laid ambushes against the security forces in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and

Odisha,” said a police official.

He added, “Debo had joined Naxals in 2011 and was personally involved a murder, four encounters and one case of arson. In all, six offences were registered against her. In 2019, she was also involved in the murder of one Sainath Tavve at village Musparshi.”

Some of the other reasons to surrender were miles of travelling on foot in the jungle, lack of public support for Naxalites, stay in the deep forest areas by transporting heavy loads of dalam, potential threat to the life from wild beasts and security forces, aggressive anti-Naxal operations by the police, lack of payments by senior Maoists for medical reasons and attractive surrender policy of the Maharashtra government. A sum of Rs 7.5 lakh will be given to the surrendered couple by the government besides benefits under various developmental schemes, the police said.

Due to the intensified antiNaxal operations by Gadchiroli police, from 2019 to 2022, 47 hardcore Naxalites have surrendered before the police.