Three Maoist leaders surrender before Odisha DGP

BHUBANESWAR: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic jeopardising the top Maoist leadership in the country, three rebel leaders, including two women, surrendered before Odisha DGP Abhay on Sunday.
Talse Huika, an area committee member (ACM) carrying a reward of Rs 4 lakh, laid down her arms before Abhay during the top cop’s visit to Koraput district. Rame Podiamia, also an ACM, and Raidhar Dhurua, a party member, surrendered before the DGP in Malkangiri. This is the first time that the Maoists have surrendered before a DGP in the last two years. They usually do so before SPs.
“Among the main reasons for their surrender were the frequent appeals by chief minister Naveen Patnaik to join the mainstream, attractive surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government, better healthcare and education facilities and misconduct or ill-treatment by their seniors,” Abhay told media persons. Sources said the growing differences between the Odia and Telugu Maoist leaders was another reason for their exit from the outlawed outfit.
Police said Huika, who belonged to the Narayanpatna area of Koraput district, was inducted into the CPI (Maoist) outfit in 2012. At that time she was asked to perform in Jana Natya Mandali, which is the cultural troupe of the Maoists. She was only 13 then.
She was given military training and was armed with a .303 rifle when she was still a juvenile. After getting promoted to the rank of the ACM in 2015, she was given an INSAS rifle, and made to work in the Pedabailu area committee up to May 2021. She was then transferred to the Boipariguda area committee. She was part of five attacks on security forces, along with several other Maoist-triggered incidents of violence, in Malkangiri and Koraput.
Podiami, who had joined the Maoists in 2000, was promoted to the rank of the ACM in 2005 and started carrying the .303 rifle since then. Though she belonged to Malkangiri, her area of operation was Chhattisgarh. Podiami was carrying a reward of Rs 4 lakh on her head.
In 2001, she was transferred to the Kistaram LOS (local organising squad) of the south Bastar division where she worked under LOS commander Bijay. She had received 15-day military training near the Jabara village under the Jagurgonda police jurisdiction in Chhattisgarh. In 2006, she was again transferred to the Palachalam LOS. She had participated in many attacks on security forces and ambushes, another police officer said.
The Malkangiri-based Dhurua, who was carrying a reward of rupees one lakh, had joined the Maoist force in Mahupadar LOS in 2017 as a party member after being motivated by the then commander Kamlu.