Woman Naxal "surrenders" after kin assaulted by policemen

A woman Naxal, whose relatives have alleged they were assaulted by policemen for sheltering her, has "surrendered".
The Naxal, Ramko Atla, who carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh on her head, has "surrendered", district police said in a statement last night, without mentioning date or place of the surrender.
She was involved in "various criminal acts", said the statement without providing details.
The development came hours after relatives of the woman held a press conference here and alleged they were beaten up by policemen on January 10 and 15 for allowing Ramko to stay with them in their village Nagweli.

They had also alleged Ramko was taken away by the policemen who came to the village in civil clothes.
Ramko's father Natthuji Atla and members of Narote family, who are their close relatives, were present at the press meet.

Sakharam Narote, who addressed the media, said Ramko was forcibly taken away by the Naxals to join their dalam (group) some two years ago.
"The girl (Ramko) came to our village on January 5 and stayed with us as she is our relative. We called her father (Natthuji) and were about to inform the police about her surrender plan. However, we could not do so because of other urgent engagements," he had said.

Asked about the assault allegation levelled by Ramko's relatives, Sagar Kawde, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Gadchiroli, had yesterday said he was not aware of any such incident.