13 Maoists surrender, 3 arrested

: Thirteen Maoists, among whom five were women, surrendered before police in two different cities today, while three others were arrested.

Among those arrested was a B.Tech graduate V Balakrishna Naidu and a Maoist Dalam (unit) member Kovasi Somaraju alias Santosh (24).

Twelve of the Maoists surrendered before East Godavari Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni here today while another Maoist, Naidu, surrendered before the SP (Visakhapatnam rural) Rahul Dev Sharma.

Gunni told reporters that Santosh was involved in seven major incidents, including an ambush in Burkampal near Chintagufa in Bastar, where 25 CRPF personnel were killed.

He was also involved in the murder of a police informer and associated with three major blast incidents, the SP said.

Santosh decided to surrender due to family problems, he said.

Gunni said he would be provided all assistance in accordance with the government policy for them to join the national mainstream.

The other 12 who surrendered would be sent back to their villages situated in interior areas, to enable them lead a normal life, he said.

Gunni also said that three more Maoists, including a dalam member were arrested by police at Etapaka today.

All of them were tribals and were nabbed by police with the assistance of CRPF personnel.

They were aged between 22 and 35 years, he said.

In Visakhapatnam, Naidu, who joined the Maoists last year, surrendered before the SP, (Visakhaptnam Rural) Rahul Dev Sharma.

He said he had taken the decision to surrender as he was disillusioned with the Maoist movement.

The SP said Naidu (28) had completed his B.Tech from a private engineering college in Hyderabad in 2012, worked in the pharmaceutical sector for a few years and finally joined the Maoists in 2017 at the egging of his relative.

He said Naidu rose through the ranks to become Area Committee member of Pedabayalu of the outfit on the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha Border and carried a reward of Rs four lakh on his head.

Naidu had participated in two encounters at Pepperameta and Tikarpada and was also close to Central Committee member Akkiraju Haragopal and Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee leader Gajarla Ravi, the SP said.