A woman Maoist leader carrying a bounty of ₹10 lakh surrendered before the Kolkata Police on Wednesday with a firearm and ammunition.
Police said Shakuntala, also known as Pushpa and Barsa, had been active for over two decades and worked under senior CPI (Maoist) leader Misir Besra in Jharkhand’s Saranda forest before deciding to lay down arms.
“A resident of Belpahari in West Bengal, she joined the Maoist Communist Centre around 2001 as a cultural member when she was in the fifth standard. She was a zonal committee member of the Dalma squad of CPI (Maoist). She has surrendered before us,” Kolkata police commissioner Ajay Nand said.
In September 2004, two major left-wing extremist rebel groups – the People’s War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) – merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
“She has been active in areas along the borders of Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar. Later on, they shifted to Saranda forest, working under Besra’s command. Some Maoist members from West Bengal were also there. They are still there in the Saranda area. In February she decided to surrender,” Nand said.
“I thought that the path was not right and hence I decided to leave that path. The government has been urging to join the main stream. That’s why I surrendered and laid down arms,” Nand added.
In his late 60s, Besra, who carries a reward of ₹1 crore and comparable bounties in nearby states, is holed up in the forest along with a clutch of loyal troops. His family has made a final appeal, routed through the government, calling on him to lay down arms.
Security forces said Besra, known by the aliases Bhaskar, Sunil, Sunirmal and Vivek, has refused to surrender, even as most other senior Maoist leaders have either laid down arms or been neutralised over the past two years, following a renewed push by the Centre to wipe out the insurgents.
“While a few cases are pending against Shakuntala in West Bengal, most of the cases against her are registered in Jharkhand. She carries a reward of ₹10 lakh in Jharkhand,” Nand said.
