Bhubaneswar: At a time when rising Maoist activities in the state have put the police and security personnel on tenterhooks, a dreaded extremist surrendered before the Angul police on Wednesday.
“Manoj alias Madhav Dehury of Jakob area in the district has surrendered before us today morning. Unable to tolerate the inhuman activities of the Red rebels, he joined the mainstream,” Angul SP Rajesh Pandit said.
The official said Dehury was working in SDS division of the Maoists’ Nayagarh-Boudh-Angul division. Currently, the division has 12 ultras who assist the main group in ambush and exchange of fire with the security forces.
“During questioning, he (Dehury) informed us that the Maoist leaders of neighbouring Jharkhand are not treating the local leaders well. Many a time, they assert their supremacy and engage the ultras in theft and loot. The local leaders also work for them without food. On several occasions, they direct the ultras to extort money from the contractors,” Pandit said.
“Dehury also told us that his Jharkhand leaders were torturing the women cadres of the group,” the official stated.
Talking about Dehury’s activities in the group, Pandit said, “He (Dehury), trained in tactics and field craft, was working under the leadership of Bijoy alias Kunu Dehury. He admitted that he had helped the Red rebels in logistics and arrangement of group meetings. He informed us that he played a major role in the attack on the forest beat house.”
The police are cross checking the antecedents of Dehury from their counterparts in other districts.
On his part, Dehury accused the Red rebels of ‘monstrous’ activities and said he failed to deliver on their ideologies.
“Ever since I joined the group a year back, I could not tolerate the firing between the Maoists and the police. Many a time, they didn’t even provide me food. Sometimes they also forced me to work like a labourer. I worked hard as I respected their ideologies. But gradually, they started deviating from it and set up laws to suit themselves. Unable to bear these things, I fled from the area and decided to surrender,” the ultra said.