Samba Khara, a Maoist cadre with a ₹2 lakh reward offered by the Odisha government on his head, along with seven other militia members, surrendered before the police in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Wednesday.
The tribal youths surrendered at the Malkangiri District Police Headquarters before Malkangiri Superintendent of Police (SP) Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo, and Commandant A. K. Arya, In-Charge Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Border Security Force (BSF). As precaution against the COVID-19 threat, all surrendered persons wore masks on their faces.
Khara was involved in the murder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Kidari Sarveswar Rao, and former MLA of the same party, Siveri Soma, in the Dungriguda Police Station area of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh on September 24, 2018. He was also involved in several other cases of Maoist violence in the Malkangiri and Koraput districts, including the blasting of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), murder of civilians, and exchanges of fire with security forces.
Losing ground
All eight persons who have surrendered are from ‘Swabhiman Anchal’ of Malkangiri district, hinting that Maoists are losing ground and support base in an area that was once their stronghold. Khara hailed from Luchhapani village. Five of the Maoist militia members were from Semilipadar, while one each is from Tarabeda and Goudaput villages.
Khara, who joined the Maoists in 2017, was a member of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) Military Platoon-01 under the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-M) organisation. The seven militia were providing physical, strategic and logistical support to Naxalites in ‘Swabhiman Anchal’, but they had not been elevated to Maoist cadre-level yet.
“Youths of Swabhiman Anchal have started snapping ties with Maoists to surrender before the police and join the mainstream. So, frustrated Maoists are falsely alleging that police is arresting them,” said Malkangiri SP.
‘Sense of security’
According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (south-west range), Shefeen Ahmed K., people of Swabhiman Anchal have started to realise that the police is facilitating development and a sense of security in the area so that they can pursue any profession without the fear of Maoists. With the establishment of a police post at Jodambo, several nearby villages in Swabhiman Anchal are requesting police posts in their areas, the DIG added.
