A total of 108 Maoists carrying a collective bounty of ₹3.95 crore surrendered in Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, marking a major breakthrough in the ongoing campaign against Left Wing Extremism.
Officials said security forces also recovered ₹3.61 crore in cash and one kilogram of gold valued at around ₹1.64 crore from Maoist dumps, besides a large cache of weapons. Authorities described it as the largest seizure of cash and valuables from a single location in anti-Naxal operations in the country.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam said the surrendered cadres belonged to the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The cadres turned themselves in at Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district. Officials said the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee had orchestrated several deadly attacks in south Bastar in the past.
Information shared by the surrendered cadres helped security forces locate Maoist dumps, leading to the recovery of weapons, cash and other materials.
Police seized a total of 101 weapons, including AK-47, INSAS and SLR rifles, light machine guns, .303 rifles and barrel grenade launchers. Officials said the recovery dealt a significant blow to the Maoists’ already weakened military capability.
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Among those who surrendered were key cadres including divisional committee members Rahul Telam, Pandru Kovasi and Jhitru Oyam from the West Bastar division, Ramdhar alias Biru from the East Bastar division and Mallesh from the North Bastar division. Others included Muchaki, a commander of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army battalion, and Kosa Mandavi, a divisional committee member from the Andhra–Odisha Border area.
According to Pattilingam, the large-scale surrender reflected a growing disillusionment with Maoist ideology within the organisation.
He said several cadres were influenced by the “Poona Margem – Rehabilitation to Rejuvenation” initiative and were choosing to abandon violence and return to mainstream society.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma said six divisional committee members, three company platoon committee commanders, 18 platoon party committee members, 23 area committee members and 56 party members were among those who surrendered.
District-wise, 37 of the cadres were from Bijapur, 30 from Dantewada, 18 from Sukma, 16 from Bastar, four from Narayanpur and three from Kanker.
The government has set a deadline of March 31, 2026, to eliminate Naxalism, as announced earlier by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Officials said that over the past 26 months, 2,714 Maoist cadres have surrendered in the state, with 2,625 laying down arms in the Bastar division alone between January 1, 2024 and March 9, 2026.
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