RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, May 8: The Jharkhand Police today claimed to have wiped out Kauleshwari sub-zone, which was considered a stronghold of Maoists for more than 30 years. Kauleshwari sub-zones include Chatra, Hazaribagh and Palamu districts of Jharkhand and Gaya and Aurangabad districts of Bihar.
I.G (Operation) A.V.Homkar claimed this after five Maoists, including one zonal commander Amarjit Yadav, three sub zonal commanders including Sahdeo Yadav, Neeru Yadav and Santosh Bhuia, and squad member Ashok Baiga, surrendered with a cache of arms and ammunitions before the Jharkhand Police and CRPF engaged in anti-Naxal operations in Jharkhand.
Out of five, two were carrying cash rewards on them. Amarjit Yadav carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh) Sahdeo Yadav Rs 5 lakh on their head. Criminal cases range in between two to 81 at different police stations of Bihar and Jharkhand.
“We have almost wiped out the Kauleshwari sub-zone which was a stronghold of CPI(Maoists) for the last 30 years,” Homkar said while welcoming the Maoists who surrendered in a programme organized at the official premises of south Chotanagpur IG in Doranda.
Homkar said it was the result of regular operation of security personnel engaged in anti-Naxal operations in the Kauleshwari Zone.
“Last year we had three encounters and this year we have four so far. One January 28, we shot dead a Maoist squad member Rajesh Baiga alias Rajesh Parhiya in Chatra in an encounter while in another encounter on April 3, we shot dead five Maoists at a time. On May 5, a Maoist regional committee member Indal Ganjhu surrendered. Thus, following our repeated operations Maoists planned to surrender. Apart from this, the government surrender policy, which we have been spreading among Maoists and their family members, also came as a help in this success,” Homkar said.
Surrendered zonal commander Amarjit Yadav, however, cited different reasons for surrender when contacted for comment. He said he planned to surrender after he noticed that ‘senior Maoist leaders do not pay attention to junior cadres and lead a lavish life.’
The cache of arms and ammunition the police got after their surrender include 2 AK-56 Rifles, one self-loading rifle, one Insas Rifle, two 3X3 rifles, one carbine, one US made rifle besides 1856 rounds of ammunition of different calibre.
