108 Maoists Surrender in Chhattisgarh's Bastar District

In a major development in India's campaign against left-wing extremism, 108 Maoists surrendered to security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district on Wednesday, officials confirmed. The group, affiliated with the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), collectively carried rewards totaling 3.95 crore rupees. The surrender took place at Jagdalpur, the district headquarters, and led to the recovery of significant arms, cash, and gold from Maoist hideouts.

Authorities described the event as a significant blow to the Maoist organization, which has been active in the region's dense forests and has carried out numerous attacks in southern Bastar over the years. Inspector General of Police for the Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam, noted that information from the surrendered cadres enabled security forces to seize 101 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, INSAS rifles, SLR rifles, light machine guns, .303 rifles, and barrel grenade launchers. In addition, forces recovered 3.61 crore rupees in cash and one kilogram of gold valued at approximately 1.64 crore rupees. Pattilingam called it the largest single recovery of cash and valuables in...