Chhattisgarh: Last active Maoist commander in Bastar region surrenders in Bijapur
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Papa Rao, believed to be the last active Maoist commander in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, surrendered along with 17 other cadres in the Bijapur district on Tuesday, the Hindustan Times quoted the state police as saying.
Rao, who was a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee and in charge of the South Sub Zonal Bureau of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head.
His surrender comes a week before the March 31 deadline set by the Union government to end the Maoist conflict.
Apart from Rao, the other Maoists who surrendered included divisional committee members Prakash Madvi and Anil Tati, the Hindustan Times reported.
The police in Bastar said that the 18 Maoists had agreed to shun violence and join the mainstream in a “decisive breakthrough” in the ongoing efforts to end Maoism in the region.
The statement added that the development was evidence that the goal of a Maoist-free Bastar was steadily becoming a reality, the newspaper reported. It added that this is the first time in the history of the Maoist movement in the Dandakaranya region that the organisation is left without an effective leadership.
Rao, who is believed to be between 55 and 60 years of age, is a school dropout who...