Two members of a Maoist squad from Purulia district of West Bengal surrendered before the police. (Source: Google Maps)
Two members of a Maoist squad from Purulia district of West Bengal surrendered before the police on Tuesday. They have been identified as Hajari Hembram alias Bijoy and Rani Munda alias Pooja. They surrendered at the at the SP office of Purulia district. The duo also surrendered their riffles.
“We had received inputs from CRPF too that they want to get back to mainstream so we approached them and all procedure were followed and they surrendered themselves. Hazari is a famous Maoist and has at least eight cases registered against him, including cases for murder and abduction. They both are active members of the Dalma squad. While Hembram had joined the Squad in 2006, Pooja was a member of the squad since 2015,” SP (Purulia) Joy Biswas told The Indian Express. The Dalma squad is currently led by Akash, another known Maoist.
“We are trying to extract details from the surrendered Maoists about the hideouts of the squad,” the official added.
The Dalma squad of Maoists primarily operates in the East Singhbhum region of Jharkhand. A tribal squad, most of its leaders and cadres are from Bengal. “These two were also member of regional committee of Dalma squad surrounding Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal,” Biswas added.
Hajari Hembram was previously been arrested from Urmahat in Purulia from the Jharkhand border but was released on bail, added another source.
In January 2017, top leader Ranjit Pal, who was in charge of the three statesm Orissa, Jharkhand and Bengal, and a senior member of the military wing of the Maoist had surrendered. After Kishenji, Pal was the only senior Maoist cadre from Bengal who was running the show in the bordering areas.
The Maoist were active in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts between 2008 and 2011. After their leader Kishenji was eliminated in 2011 several other top Maoist leader started surrendering. Slowly the movement fizzled out in the state.
“So far approximately more than 220 Maoist have surrendered under the new West Bengal government”, said another police official.
