8 Maoists arrested, one surrenders in Raipur

RAIPUR: Two hardcore Maoists, among eight, carrying cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on their heads, were arrested on Saturday from different parts of Maoists’ hotbed Bijapur district in Bastar region.
According to Bastar range IG SRP Kalluri, hardcore Maoists Aaytu Modiyam, deputy commander of local guerilla squad (LGS), had Rs 3 lakh reward on him and Kamlu Lekam, platoon member, had Rs 2 lakh on his head.
All eight of the arrested Maoists were involved in cases related to murder and loot.
In another development, a Maoist commander, Raghnath Gawde, surrendered with a country made gun and 13 rounds of cartridges before Bastar IG. Kalluri said that Gawde would be given Rs 10,000 as ex-gratia.
Gawde had joined Maoist ranks in 1999 and he was asked by senior Maoist cadres of Andhra Pradesh to murder, loot, and harass tribals besides take up destruction of infrastructure.
Fed up with partial behaviour of senior leaders of AP, Gawde decided to surrender.