15 armed Maoists, including senior leader surrender in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund

RAIPUR: In a major breakthrough along the Chhattisgarh–Odisha Maoist corridor, 15 armed Maoists, including a senior state committee member, surrendered to police in Mahasamund district in the early hours of Sunday. The group laid down automatic weapons and collectively carried a bounty of Rs 73 lakh. Police described the surrender as a decisive blow to the western sub-zonal structure of the CPI (Maoist) in the border region. The cadres walked out of the forest late on Saturday night, days after sending a letter to Home Minister Vijay Sharma expressing their wish to surrender. A bus was sent to pick them up along with their weapons and bring them to the Mahasamund district headquarters. Among those who surrendered was Vikas, also known as Sudarshan or Rajanna (57), a state committee member who had been active in the insurgency since the 1980s and was considered a key figure in the Bargarh–Balangir–Mahasamund (BBM) divisional setup. Police said he alone carried a reward of Rs25 lakh and surrendered with an AK-47 rifle. The group included nine women and six men, drawn from different ranks of the Maoist hierarchy – from state and divisional committee members to area and party cadres. Police said the surrendered cadres were active across the Odisha–Chhattisgarh border and were part of the western sub-zone under the Odisha state committee. Security forces recovered 14 weapons from the group, including three AK-47 rifles, two SLRs, two INSAS rifles, four .303 rifles and three 12-bore guns. Officials said the surrender was facilitated through sustained outreach under the state’s rehabilitation policy, including appeals through radio, posters and direct contact with cadres. The surrendered Maoists were welcomed at the district headquarters with copies of the Constitution, the tricolour, and symbolic gestures of reintegration. Police claimed that with the disbanding of the BBM divisional structure, the western sub-zone of the Odisha state committee has effectively collapsed, making parts of both the Raipur police range in Chhattisgarh and the Sambalpur range in Odisha largely free of Maoist presence. The surrender comes amid intensified efforts by security agencies to dismantle residual Maoist networks ahead of the Centre’s March 2026 target for eliminating Left-wing extremism in core areas.