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Thirteen Naxalites, including 10 from the outlawed People's War, surrendered before Director-General of Police Pervaram Ramulu in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, on Friday afternoon.
They included a district committee member, an area committee secretary and six dalam [armed squad] members of the People's War, two cadres belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Prathighatana group and one activist of the Janashakti (Veeranna).
Warangal district committee member Ambala Madanaiah alias Ravi (32), who was associated with the PW for 20 years, said he had surrendered because he was vexed with the ideology of the group.
The DGP said Madanaiah was involved in several heinous offences, including six murders. He carried a reward of Rs 300,000 on his head.
Madanaiah's wife Kagitala Sukanya (25), Sircilla area committee secretary Pesaru Ramesh (24), his wife Shaghanti Suguna Kumari, and dalam members Durgam Swamy, Janga Narsimhulu (21) Choppari Mallesham (28), Bongaralla Gangadhar (25), Pattepu Laxmi (20) and Durgam Bajari (26) were operating in Warangal, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Medak districts.
The DGP appealed to all Naxalites to surrender. "Several Naxalites in Warangal, Karimnagar and other districts are ready to surrender, but they think that they can do so only with the help of police officers, political leaders of parivikars [touts]. They need not go to any middlemen for surrender. They can surrender at the nearest police station or to the local government functionary," he said.
Ramulu assured the Naxalites that they would not be harassed if they surrendered. "If they come and surrender in the morning, they will be set at liberty by the evening. They can go to whichever place they want. The police will not detain them for interrogation. Their cases will be sympathetically considered. They will he rehabilitated at places of their choice," he declared.
Asked how long it would take the police to curb the Naxalite activity, the DGP said: "We cannot have a deadline. It is not a war. This will go on. However, there is attrition in their [PW] ranks. The movement is on the wane. They [PW cadres] have retreated into their safe havens. We have to either make them surrender or arrest them."
He said only five platoons of the People's Guerrilla Army of the PW was active. Each platoon, consisting of 19 to 30 Naxalites, was operating in four to five districts. "Only 20 to 25 dalams are operating in Telangana region."
"Like the Tiger census, we also conduct unofficial count of the PW based on the documents recovered from them and our own intelligence inputs. There were 846 PW cadres carrying arms and ready to shoot during September 2000, but the number has come down to 749 now," Ramulu said.
He admitted that most of the Naxalites who had surrendered were "fringe elements". "Till we neutralise the core group, not much will be achieved..." he said.
He said the PW leadership was in a desperate situation. "They are recruiting anybody and everybody, whosoever comes in handy. They are also catching children and initiating them into extremist activity," he added.
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