New Delhi: Less than a month after he killed his deputy and fellow comrade over a difference of opinion on the issue of surrendering before security forces, Sukru, the top Maoist operative in Odisha, surrendered Tuesday.
The Maoist commander came voluntarily along with four junior Maoist cadres to surrender before the police in Kandhamal district, Odisha Police officers confirmed to ThePrint. “He has come to surrender with four more cadres. The process has begun, and it will be formalised tomorrow,” said a top Odisha Police officer who did not wish to be named.
ThePrint reported last month how Sukru, along with other cadres aligned to him, hacked to death the Maoist commander from Chhattisgarh, Anwesh, and buried his body in Pakari reserve forest area.
Sukru was the last surviving member of the state committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), Additional Director General (Anti-Naxal ops) Sanjeeb Panda told ThePrint.
A native of Odisha’s Malkangiri district, Sukru carried a bounty of Rs 55 lakh. A member of the local Koya tribal community, he was recruited by the banned outfit in 1997. He was sent to Dandkaranya region shortly after and returned to his native state as an underground cadre in 2007 when he was transferred to the outfit’s Ghumsar division.
Elevated internally at regular intervals, Sukru worked as a divisional secretary looking after the division of the outfit spanning four districts, namely Ganjam, Kandhamal, Gajapati, and Rayagada. He shifted base to the Niyamgiri division in 2012, according to police records, where he worked till 2017.
With Sukru’s surrender, only 15 more Maoist cadres remain in Odisha, including one senior cadre—Sila, a divisional committee member.
Sukru’s surrender and the inevitable collapse of the banned outfit came exactly a week before the 31 March deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Sukru’s surrender before the Odisha Police coincided with the surrender of state zonal committee member (SZCM) and in-charge of West Bastar division, Papa Rao, in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Sources in Odisha Police said Sukru was a trusted, long-term lieutenant of Modem Bala Krishna, a central committee member who was previously the secretary of the banned outfit’s Andhra-Odisha border special zonal committee (AOBSZC).
According to police records, Sukru was present at the site of the encounter in the Sirla forest area under Tumudibandha police station limits in Kandhamal, along with Bala Krishna, but escaped unhurt. Bala Krishna was killed in an encounter with Chhattisgarh Police last September.
According to police records, he was sent to the Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division in the state by the banned outfit’s senior leaders to open an access point into the Saranda forest, which spans Odisha and Jharkhand.
In the last few months, Sukru was supported by the duo of Sila and area committee member (ACM) Jagesh. But Jagesh’s encounter last month severely weakened the outfit at the local level, Kandhamal Superintendent of Police, Harisha B.C., had said last month.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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