Three naxals arrested, two surrender in Chhattisgarh

Three naxals, one of them carrying a cash reward on his head, were arrested from two places in Chhattisgarh, while two other rebels surrendered in Bijapur district in the state today, police said.

Two cadres identified as Kunjam Anda (35) and Hemla Lakhma (31) were arrested from the forest of Timapur village under Basaguda police station limits when a team of local police was out on area domination operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

Cordex wire, electric wire, batteries, couple of detonators and Maoist literature were recovered from their possession, he said.

Of them, Anda, who was active as a member of the military platoon no 10 of Maoists, was allegedly involved in the Burkapal attack in Sukma, wherein 25 CRPF personnel were killed in April last year, he said.

"He was carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head," the SP said.

"Besides, the duo was also allegedly among those who had attacked two policemen with sharp weapons and looted one Insas rifle and one AK 47 rifle from them in Basaguda weekly market in December 2014," he added.

During their interrogation, the duo revealed that they were tasked with conducting a recee of security forces in the weekly market and planning attacks on police teams, he said.

In a separate operation, a naxal identified as Avlam Sukku (25) was arrested from the forest near Gadamali road under Jangla police station area by local police, he said.

Besides, two rebels- Balram Pungati (22) and Budhu Kursam (26)- both carrying cash reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their head, today turned themselves in before Garg.

The surrendered cadres in their statement cited disappointment with the "hollow" ideology of Maoists and violence.

"They were also impressed with the provisions of the surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government," the SP said.

A cash of Rs 10,000 was also given to each of the surrendered rebels as encouragement money, he said adding that all of them will be facilitated as per the surrender and rehabilitation policy.