Major breakthrough: Maoist couple carrying ₹7 lakh bounty surrenders in Kolkata
Kolkata, October 23: Jharkhand’s notorious Maoist couple, Mangal and Malti, who were active in the Saranda forest region and carried rewards of ₹5 lakh and ₹2 lakh respectively, surrendered before the Kolkata Police at Lalbazar on Friday, handing over an AK-47 rifle and an INSAS rifle to Police Commissioner Ajay Nanda.
Mangal is a resident of Salboni in West Midnapore district, while Malati is a resident of Gopiballabhpur in Jhargram district. According to police, Mangal joined the Maoist organization in 2010. At that time, he was also associated with the People’s Committee for Protection of Children (PCPA), active in Salboni.
Police Commissioner Ajay Nanda said that Mangal was a close associate of Maoist leader Kishanji. After 2011-12, he moved to Jharkhand and became involved in Maoist activities, first in Dalma and later in the Saranda forests. Later, Malti also left Jhargram and joined him in Saranda.
According to police officials, due to the continuous operations by security forces, it became difficult for the Maoists to survive in the Saranda forests. Due to this pressure, around 13 Maoists from Bengal began leaving the area in 2016. Many of them were arrested in various places. Recently, three Maoists were arrested from Jharkhand.
According to the police, Mangal, who was active in Saranda, has six to seven criminal cases registered against him in Jharkhand. After surrendering, Mangal said that bringing about social change through armed struggle is not possible. Therefore, he decided to abandon the path of violence and surrender to the state government and join the mainstream of society.
It is noteworthy that in recent months, incidents of arrests and surrenders of Maoists have been reported in Kolkata. In June this year, Pushpa alias Shakuntala surrendered to the Kolkata Police. A month earlier, Jharkhand-based Maoist Shraddha Vishwas, alias Bela, was arrested by Kolkata Police from the North Kashipur area. The police are considering the surrender of Mangal and Malti as another major success.
