Hyderabad: Around 140 Maoists, including senior Communist Party of India (Maoist) leader Rupesh and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee’s (DKZC) Maad division in-charge Ranita, will formally surrender before Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai and home minister Vijay Sharma in Jagdalpur on Friday, October 17.
Rupesh, a prominent Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh and active in Chhattisgarh, has coordinated between various divisions of the DKZC and managed logistics, communication, and training in the Maad area.
Over the years, he was regarded as a bridge between the Maoist party’s central committee and the local zonal structure. His surrender, officials say, will “severely weaken the outfit’s operational capability in Bastar.”
Maad division in-charge Ranita is one of the senior women commanders in the outfit and has been active across several Bastar districts.
“Both leaders had been in hiding in deep forest zones, but recent operational pressures and outreach efforts persuaded them to opt for surrender,” an officer was quoted by India Today.
According to police, the soon-to-surrender Maoists have reportedly crossed the Indravati River along the borders of Dantewada and Bijapur districts on Thursday, October 16. They will be ferried to Jagdalpur, where the formal ceremony will take place.
The previous day, as many as 78 Maoists, including 43 women and at least two members of the CPI (Maoist)‘s Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, surrendered in three districts of Chhattisgarh.
On October 14, senior Maoist leader, Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi and 60 other cadres in Gadchiroli district of neighbouring Maharashtra surrendered before CM Fadnavis.
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