Screening committee finds that more than 90% of Chhattisgarh’s surrenders were not actually Maoist cadres

In what amounts to a rap on the knuckles of the Chhattisgarh government, the Home Ministry has asked it to ensure that only genuine Maoist cadre surrender before the police, and to avoid spiking the numbers through surrender of ‘fake Maoists’. This was conveyed to Chief Minister Raman Singh, who met Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this month.

“As many applications were rejected, there was resentment in people who were assured monetary and other rehabilitation benefits”, said a senior government official.

A screening-cum-rehabilitation committee, comprising officials of the State government and central armed police force officials, examines the cases before enrolling them for the rehabilitation scheme.

“During an assessment, it was found that most people who had surrendered were not active Maoist cadres. They had no cases registered against them or were not involved in any encounter”, said the official.

Most of the alleged surrenders in 2016 had taken place in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, which was under the operational control of the controversial IGP S.R.P. Kalluri.