After Maoist couple in Chhattisgarh surrenders, police calls it major breakthrough in anti-Naxal operations

Chhattisgarh police have called it a major breakthrough in anti-Naxal operations in the state and a ‘big success’, after a Maoist couple operating in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone surrendered in Rajnandgaon district on Wednesday.

According to police, the Maoist couple – Nandu Devaji Behade and his wife Komal Irpa Kumenti — had been operating from Nagpur and both carried a bounty of Rs 13 lakh. Behade has been claimed to be a close associate of MMC zone in-charge of CPI (Maoist), Milind Teltumbde alias Deepak. The couple had been in-charge of urban network of the Maoist organisation.

“Following the state’s Naxal surrender and rehabilitation policy, the Maoist couple today surrendered to Rajnandgaon police. It’s a big success for us in getting Maoists back to the mainstream. The couple will get all the benefits available under the rehabilitation policy,” said Chhattisgarh police inspector general (Durg range), Ratan Lal Dangi.

As part of the policy, the state government has given Rs 10,000 each to Behade and his wife.

This one is the second surrender of a Maoist couple within a week of the surrendering of another couple Sudhakaran and his wife Madhavi alias Neelima Reddy to Telangana police. Sudhakaran and Madhavi – both who had operated in Bastar for a long time and then in Jharkhand, carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore.

The MMC zone of the Maoists on Red Corridor comprises Gadchiroli in Maharashtra; Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori in Madhya Pradesh, and Bastar and Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.

Who’s Nandu Devaji Behade?

Prior to his surrender, Nandu Devaji Behade aka Nandu aka Vivek aka Banti, had been operating as area committee secretary of CPI (Maoist) coordination committee in Nagpur since 2017. While studying in Nagpur, he joined the students’ wing of the banned ultra-Left party as an active member of the urban network in 2004 and continued till 2009.

According to intelligence sources of the anti-Naxal ops, he joined the armed cadre of the Maoist committee of Korchi-Kurkheda-Khombrameda at Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra and started operating out of Nadekal forest. After coming in contact of Milind Teltumbde in 2013, he remained the latter’s security in-charge till 2016. He was promoted as area committee secretary and was sent to Nagpur as in-charge of urban network.

The police claimed that Nandu used Insas rifle as his weapon during operations and there are nine cases against him in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, as he had been a part of ambushes.

Who’s Komal Irpa Kumenti?

Nandu’s wife Komal Irpa Kumenti aka Sati aka Kamla joined CPI (Maoist) in 2009. From 2009 to 2017, she worked in various local committees and divisional committee, including in the armed cadre. In 2018, she was made member of coordination committee in Nagpur and had been working for the Maoist urban network.

Police claimed that the couple surrendered after their disillusionment with the Naxal ideology, exploitation within the organisation and the hierarchy pattern in the cadre.

“After their surrender, the couple told us that the Maoist leadership has been dominated by the leaders from Andhra and Telangana, and those from other regions can’t get to top positions,” a police official told Firstpost.