Malkangiri: A hardcore Maoist who carried Rs 1 lakh reward on his head and was allegedly involved in many crimes, surrendered before the police in Odisha's Malkangiri district today, police said.
Accompanied by a large number of people who had been forced to help the red rebels out of fear, Mesha Muschhaki (25) of Silakota village under Podia area surrendered before Malkangiri district Collector D Prasantakumar Reddy and S P Mitrabhanu Mohapatra here.
Closely associated with Maoist activities in Podia Dalam for the last over five years, Mesha was involved in many criminal acts including murder, landmine explosions, blasts at various buildings, the S P said.
The state government had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, he said, adding that the naxal decided to give up arms and return to the social mainstream as he realised that the ultras had deviated from their ideology and were involved in harassing poor tribals.
A large number of villagers from Silakota who had accompanied Mesha told the police that they were earlier forced to support the Maoists due to fear, but now they realised that development work in their area was being hampered due to naxal activities.
The villagers also took a pledge that they would stop supporting the red rebels in any manner henceforth and work for the development of their area, the SP said.
Collector Reddy assured the villagers that development work would be accelerated in the village which would soon be transformed into a 'model' village.