Chhattisgarh: Naxal couple with Rs 16 lakh bounty surrenders in Kondagaon; 2 held in Narayanpur

Kondagaon/Narayanpur, May 9 (PTI) A Maoist couple carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 16 lakh on their heads surrendered before the security personnel in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh on Friday, police said.

The male member from the couple was involved in the 2009 Rajnandgaon ambush, in which 29 policemen were killed, they said.

The police also arrested two Naxalites in Narayanpur district and seized explosives from them, an official said.

"A Maoist couple -- Raesingh Kumeti alias Ratansingh Kumeti (35) and his wife Punaay Achla alias Hironda (34) -- turned themselves in citing disappointment with the hollow Maoist ideology," Kondagaon Superintendent of Police Y Akshay Kumar said.

Kumeti was active as a senior cadre under the Company Number 5 of the outlawed outfit of Maoists, while his wife was its member, he said.

The couple carried a bounty of Rs 8 lakh each on their heads, the official said.

Kumeti was involved in several instances of Maoist violence between 2003 and 2011, including an ambush attack in Rajnandgaon in which the then Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Choubey was among the 29 policemen who were killed.

He was also involved in another ambush attack on the convoy of police personnel in which nine cops, including the then Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pawar were killed in Gariaband district in 2011, he added.

Kumeti and his wife were also involved in other serious Naxalite incidents in Kondagaon, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Gariaband, Dhamtari, Narayanpur and other districts in the state, he said.

The official said they were also impressed by the state government's surrender and rehabilitation policy.

The Naxalite couple was provided assistance of Rs 50,000 each and will be further rehabilitated as per the government's policy, he said.

Meanwhile, two Naxalites, identified as Kondaram Usendi (35) and Karanje Usendi (40), were apprehended by the security personnel in a forest between Kodol, Chhotepalarnar and Rengabeda villages under Orchha police station limits during the anti-Naxal operation, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar said.

The security forces seized two detonators, a pressure cooker, electric wire, among other things, from them, he added.

The duo was involved in firing, explosion and planting of IEDs to target security personnel in 2024 and 2025, the official said. PTI COR NP