Nine Maoists with ₹47 lakh bounty surrender in Chhattisgarh; Odisha Police term Nawarangpur Naxal-free

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], January 23 (ANI): Nine Maoists carrying a total bounty of ₹47 lakh surrendered in Chhattisgarh along with a cache of weapons and equipment, Odisha Police said on Friday.
Following the surrender, the Nawarangpur district of Odisha has been declared free from Naxal activity.
According to police, the surrendered Maoists included key leaders from the Nagri Area Committee, Sitanadi Area Committee and Mainpur LGS of the Odisha State Committee under the Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada division.
They were active in the Nawarangpur district of Odisha and the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh under the Odisha State Committee of CPI (Maoist).
The surrendered cadres handed over two INSAS rifles, two SLR rifles, one carbine, one bharmar gun, magazines, ammunition and a radio set, police added.
Highlighting past incidents, Odisha Police recalled that Maoists were involved in several violent attacks, including the assassination of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Jagabandhu Majhi, who was shot dead in September 2011 during a public meeting near Raighar. Maoists had also killed several people, accusing them of being police informers.
Police officials said the surrender marks a significant achievement in ongoing efforts to curb Maoist activities in the region.
Earlier, security forces in Chhattisgarh recovered the bodies of two Maoist cadres along with automatic weapons from the encounter site in the northwestern region of the state from Bijapur, officials confirmed on Saturday (January 17).
Bijapur Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Yadav said that a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG), CoBRA and the Special Task Force (STF) carried out a search operation in the northwestern region after receiving intelligence inputs regarding the presence of the Maoist National Park Area Committee's Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) Dilip Bedja and other armed Maoists in forest and hilly areas.
According to an official statement, preliminary identification suggests that one of the deceased Maoists is Dilip Bedja, a DVCM cadre of the National Park Area Committee. (ANI)