New Delhi: Exactly a week before the 31 March deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to eradicate Left-Wing Extremism from the country, the last standing Maoist commander in Bastar is all set to surrender before Chhattisgarh Police Tuesday.
The commander—identified as Sunam Chandraya, but known in police records as Papa Rao—is the last surviving Maoist commander in the Dandkaranya region of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The surrender of Papa Rao, a State Zonal Committee Member (SZCM) and in-charge of West Bastar division, may well prove to be the final blow to the armed struggles of the banned outfit, intelligence and police sources told ThePrint.
“The groundwork has already been done, and his surrender is a mere formality now. Until something drastic happens contrary to the ongoing development, Papa Rao will join the mainstream after surrendering his arms before senior officers,” a source in Chhattisgarh Police told ThePrint, requesting anonymity.
A native of the neighbouring Sukma district in Bastar, Papa Rao had been active in the Indravati National Park area, but with an unprecedentedly depleted cadre strength, sources further said.
Asked whether Papa Rao has actually confirmed his surrender plans, Bastar Range IG Sundarraj Pattilingam said that time was running out for the banned outfit’s remaining few underground cadre.
“They do not have too many options left. It’s time they came forward, surrendered, and made use of the government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy,” the Bastar IG further said.
The inevitable surrender of Papa Rao Tuesday marks a crucial turning point in the history of the armed Maoist movement and its presence in the Dandkaranya region, once considered the den of the banned outfit.
The Maoists had migrated to the region in the early 1980s amidst sustained operations by Andhra Pradesh Police. Sources in Chhattisgarh Police and intelligence establishment said that Rao has been a key architect of all the major Naxal ambushes against the security forces in the region.
“He was a right-hand man to the former DKSZC secretary Ravula Srinivas alias Ramanna, who was one of the most ruthless Maoist leaders in the region, who ruled the jungles through extensive use of guerrilla tactics and IEDs,” a Chhattisgarh Police officer told ThePrint.
Sources in Chhattisgarh Police said that Rao was weakened because of two setbacks: the killings of his top lieutenant Dilip Bedja—his go-to man for logistics and local support—in January this year, and his wife Urmila, another Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) member, in November last year.
Bedja was killed in an exchange of fire in Bijapur between security forces and Maoist cadres, which included Rao at the time. However, he had escaped unhurt.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)