As many as 26 Maoists, including three allegedly involved in ambushes that killed 56 jawans, surrendered before the Chhattisgarh police in the Naxal-hit Sukma district on Wednesday.
The surrender comes ahead of the Centre’s March 2026 deadline to wipe out insurgency in India.
The Maoists, including seven women cadres, were carrying a total reward of ₹64 lakh on their heads, Sukma superintendent of police Kiran Chavan said. He appealed to the remaining Maoists to abandon violence and join the mainstream while assuring them that they would be extended all benefits under the government’s rehabilitation policy.
The Chhattisgarh government is conducting a Poona Margem (the Gondi expression for a new path) rehabilitation campaign aimed at persuading rebels to lay down arms.
“Influenced by this and with the increasing influence of police due to continuous establishment of camps in the most sensitive interior areas, 26 Maoists, including seven women active in the Maoist organisation, surrendered today at the Reserve Police Station, Sukma,” said a Chhattisgarh police officer. The surrendered Maoists have been involved in several major incidents in the Sukma district, the Marwar region and areas bordering Odisha, Chavan added.
Sources said that under the Chhattisgarh government’s rehabilitation policy, surrendered Maoists would be provided an incentive of ₹50,000 each, the declared reward amount and other facilities.
Among the surrendered Maoists is 35-year-old Lali alias Muchaki Ayate, a deputy commander who carried a reward of ₹10 lakh. It is alleged that he was involved in a 2017 incident in which an IED exploded on a security forces vehicle on the Sonabeda to Koraput road, killing 14 soldiers.
Another surrendered Maoist, Hemla Lakhma, 41, a resident of Sukma, was carrying a reward of ₹8 lakh and was working with the Maoists since 2011. He was allegedly involved in an encounter in which 17 police personnel were gunned down in the forests of Minpa in 2020.
“Under the guidance of senior officials in Sukma, anti-Maoist operations are being continuously conducted with the aim of fulfilling the resolution of a Maoist-free Bastar, due to which the Maoist organisation is on the verge of extinction and developmental work is being carried out in the remote forest areas,” a Chhattisgarh police statement said.