Two top Naxals surrender in Balaghat; MP now free of all listed MMC zone cadres, says CM Yadav
BHOPAL: Continued surrenders by armed Naxal cadres in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, driven by surrender or get eliminated anti-Naxal operations, resulted in two more hardcore Naxalites laying down arms in the forests of MPs Balaghat district on Thursday. Two wanted Naxals carrying a combined reward of 43 lakh surrendered at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the Korka area of Balaghat district. They were identified as Deepak Uike, a Gondia-Rajnandgaon-Balaghat (GRB) divisional committee member carrying a reward of Rs 29 lakh, and Rohit, who had a Rs 14 lakh bounty. With their surrender, Madhya Pradesh is now free of all listed CPI (Maoist) cadres from the Maharashtra-MP-Chhattisgarh (MMC) special zone. Based on interrogation of the armed Naxal cadres who surrendered recently, after the latest two surrenders, all listed Naxal cadres of the MMC zone have now been eliminated or have surrendered. This is a historic development, Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav announced on Thursday evening. Deepak Uike was considered the poster boy of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in Balaghat district, as he hailed from Palagondi village in the same region. Both Deepak and Rohit were part of the Malajkhand Dalam of the GRB divisional committee, which operated largely in the southern stretches of the MMC Zone. The dalam, led by CPI (Maoist) central committee member and MMC Zone chief Ramder Majji, saw 12 cadres surrender in Chhattisgarh on December 8. However, Deepak and Rohit had stayed away from the December 8 surrender. In the last 42 days, as many as 42 hardcore Naxalites carrying a collective bounty of Rs 7.75 crore have surrendered in MP, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, the MP CM said, congratulating anti-Naxal police personnel. The chief minister also paid tribute to the 38 police personnel who have died in anti-Naxal operations in undivided and divided Madhya Pradesh since 198889. The elimination or surrender of all listed cadres in MP assumes special significance as it comes just two days before the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government completes two years in office. In 202324, four wanted Naxalites, including a woman cadre carrying a total reward of 71 lakh, were gunned down in encounters. In 2025 so far, ten armed Naxal cadres all of area committee rank carrying a total bounty of 1.46 crore have been killed, marking the highest Naxal casualties in any year, Yadav added.
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