A total of 35 Naxalites, three of them carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 3 lakh, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Sunday, a senior police official said. A 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy are among those who turned themselves in before the police, he said.

These cadres were tasked with digging roads, felling trees to block roads and putting up posters and banners during shutdowns called by Naxalites, the official said.

Of the surrendered Naxalites, Baman Kartam (39) was the Jiyakodta Panchayat Militia Platoon Commander of the outlawed Maoists organisation, while Bhima Kunjam (28) was the Aranpur Panchayat CNM president, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Gaurav Rai said.

Chetna Natya Mandli (CNM) is a cultural wing of Maoists.

Woman Naxalite Kumme Lekam (35), who carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh, was the Hurrepal Panchayat Krantikari Mahila Adivasi Sangthan (KAMS) president, he said.

“They were part of Bhairamgarh, Malanger and Katekalyan area committees of the Maoists in south Bastar. They said they were impressed by the police’s rehabilitation drive ‘Lon Varratu’ (return to your home) and disappointed with the hollow Maoist ideology,” Rai said. These Naxalites will be provided facilities as per the government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy, the official added.

With this, 796 Naxalites, including 180 carrying rewards, have so far joined the mainstream in the district under the police’s Lon Varratu campaign launched in June 2020, officials said.