Seven Maoists were arrested in the restive Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Monday.

The Maoists, accused of indulging in violent activities, including killings, were arrested from the Bhairamgad and Gangaloor areas of Bijapur district in a joint operation by the CRPF and the district police, Bijapur Superintendent of Police K.L. Dhruw told reporters.

“We have arrested Punem Sukku, who worked for the CPI (Maoist) in Gangaloor block of Bijapur. Sitaram Bhaskar, Budhram Vako, Salaki Sodhi, Payaku Mandavi, Pardeshi Ram and Ganesh Bhaskar have been arrested from Bhairamgad block of the district,” the SP said.

Meanwhile, five Maoists surrendered before Kanker SP Jitendra Meena. “All of them were not only active in Kanker but were also involved in different incidents in other districts of Bastar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha,” said Mr. Meena. One among them — Vasanti Gawade — was involved in some major incidents in Bastar, he said.

In another incident, Maoists torched five vehicles of a construction company near Orcha town of Narayanpur district. No one was injured as naxalites asked the labourers to move away from the vehicles.