With 20 days left for the March 31, 2026, deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah for eradicating Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country, the security forces saw another success on Wednesday when 108 Maoists, including 44 women, surrendered in Bastar, returning 101 weapons, Rs 3.61 crore in cash and 1 kg gold, making it the largest dump of materials recovered from Maoists. Those who surrendered had a collective reward of Rs 3.29 crore for their capture.
All the Maoists were operating in an area they termed as Dandakaranya, which comprises Bastar’s seven districts and border areas of Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. “The recovery of 101 weapons, including AK-47s, INSAS rifles and barrel grenade launchers, has dealt a severe blow to the military capacity of the now-weakened Maoist organisation,” said Superintendent of Police, Bijapur, Jitendra Kumar Yadav.
The cash, recovered from the Indravati area of Bijapur, was collected by Maoists through extortion. It was also used to buy the gold, which makes it easy to hide, police said.
“A total of 2,714 Maoist cadres in Chhattisgarh have abandoned the path of violence over the past 26 months to pursue a peaceful social life. Notably, within the Bastar Division alone, 2,625 cadres have embraced this path between January 1, 2024, and March 9, 2026,” Inspector General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, said.
In July 2025, the forces started a new initiative called Poona Margham (New Path), aimed at having security forces – especially surrendered Maoists recruited into the District Reserve Guard and the Bastar Fighters – reach out to families of existing cadres and persuade them to “shun violence and join the mainstream”.
The initiative also promises skill development training, promoting self-employment and livelihood opportunities and providing psychological counselling and social reintegration to surrendered Maoists.
Among the 108 Maoists who surrendered are several Divisional Committee Members. They include Rahul Telam, Pandru Kovasi, and Jhitru Oyam from West Bastar Division; Ramdhar alias Biru from East Bastar Division Committee; Mallesh from North Bastar Division Committee; Commander Muchaki from PLGA Battalion 1; and Kosa Mandavi from Andhra-Odisha Border. With these surrenders, fewer than a hundred armed cadres are left in the Bastar region, including Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee Member Papa Rao, the last prominent name in Bastar.
