Eleven Maoists surrender in Odisha's Malkangiri District

Eleven Maoists, including a woman cadre, surrendered before the police in Odisha's Malkangiri District on Tuesday after a brief encounter with security forces.

Sahadeb Thamarbi, a surrendered Maoist, said he and others had joined the rebels in the hope that something good was being done for the benefit of the people, but were eventually disappointed. They also said that they had been abused and tortured.

"We want to get back to mainstream society. We were also involved in different cases," said surrendered Maoist Thamarbi

The surrendered Maoists said they belonged to Raligada and Tekguda villages in the inaccessible cut-off area of Balimela reservoir.

Malkangiri's Superintendent of Police Pramod Kumar Bag said the persons who have surrendered are Puyu Jgara, Pullu Pangi, Rangana Butari, Mathlingam Butari, Prasad Rao Kusangi, Hota Itte, Chinabadi Ettangi, Ramna Thamarbi, Sahadeb Thamarbi, Ramarao Duri and Kokli Golari.

Over 50 Maoists have surrendered in the area in last four months.

The rebels, also known as Naxals, have fought for decades in a wide swathe of central and Eastern India, including many resource-rich regions where tensions run high between poor farmers and industrial developers.

The Maoists are estimated to number 7000 hardcore fighters in nearly a third of India's 630 districts.

While they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets in 20 of the 28 states.

The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor and marginal farmers and landless labourers.

Thousands have been killed in the insurgency since the late 1960s.