RAIPUR: Pahad Singh, a senior Maoist leader with a bounty of Rs 47 lakh on his head in three states, surrendered before Durg police in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. Police presented him at a press meet on Thursday, where Singh said he gave himself up because he was disillusioned with Maoist ideology and disgusted by how local cadre were “treated like animals”.

In the rebel ranks for about 25 years, he was a member of the Special Zonal Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh Committee (MPCC) and was involved in several crimes, said Durg IG G P Singh. The special zonal committee is second in hierarchy after the Maoist central zonal committee. Considering this, Pahad’s surrender is very crucial, say police. The Maoists had formed the MPCC on the lines of the Dandkaranya Special Zonal Committee in Bastar to cover the Kawardha-Rajnandgaon-Balaghat trijunction and ease pressure on rebels in Bastar, the IG said.

In Chhattisgarh, Pahad carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh, said Singh.

Pahad Singh said he was disillusioned with Maoist ideology and the “stark difference” in what senior leaders said and did. “Local rebels are treated like animals by seniors. They are used as human shields and put in the forefront for loot, arson and murder while rebels from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra live with their families in safe, protected zones,” he said.

