A Naxal couple on Thursday surrendered before the police in this district of Chhattisgarh, officials said.
Chhotu Padha and his wife Karuna Usendi were self-styled “Platoon Commander” and Deputy Section Commander of a dalam (military unit of Naxals), DIG (Rajnandgaon) S K Rathore and District Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Shukla said at a press conference here.
They were active in Rajnandgaon and Gadchiroli district in adjoining Maharashtra over the last several years, they said.
Padha told reporters that he was disillusioned with the Naxal movement as the extremists often extorted money in the name of raising funds for their outfit. Women who have joined Maoist ranks in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra are not treated well in the Naxal hierarchy, where cadres from Andhra Pradesh are given top posts, the duo said.
The Naxal movement has drifted away from its original goals and the extremists are now engaged in exploiting the poor in the name of their welfare, Usendi said. These factors, said the couple, prompted them to leave the violent movement and join the national mainstream.
Meanwhile, a report from Gadchiroli, quoting police sources, said the couple was involved in several Naxal-related violent acts in Gadchiroli. Padha hails from Korchi taluka and his wife from Dhanora taluka of Gadchiroli.
Both of them were actively involved in 2009 Markegaon, Hattigota and Laheri encounters and blasts which had claimed the lives of as many as 48 policemen, they said.
The couple will be rehabilitated as per the surrender policies of the Centre and Chhattisgarh government, police officers said.
–PTI