Six Naxals expected to surrender in Chikkamagalur on Wednesday

CHIKKAMAGALUR: Six Naxals, including women cadre, are expected to lay down arms and surrender before the district administration on Wednesday. In the event of the surrender tomorrow, Naxal activities in the district will come to a close.

The expected surrender is the result of the efforts of a committee set up by the district administration to convince the Naxal cadre to join the mainstream and give up violence. The committee members held discussions with the Naxals deep inside the forest and managed to convince them.

Mundugaru Latha, Sundari and Vanajakshi are among the six expected to surrender on Wednesday.

Among those expected to surrender are Mundugaru Latha (Mundugaru, Sringeri), Vanajakshi (Balehole, Kalasa), Sundari (Kuthlur, Dakshina Kannada), Mareppa Aroli (Karnataka), Vasanth (Tamil Nadu) and N Jisha (Kerala).

They will present themselves in the presence of former Naxals Noor Zulfikar and Sridhar, members of the district committee, Shantigagi Nagarika Vedike, a citizens’ group, district Deputy Commissioner Meena Nagaraj and SP Vikram Amte. The authorities were not able to establish two other Naxals, Jayanna and Rajanna.

Among the demands made by the Naxals include eviction of encroachments, rejecting the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats, judicial inquiry into the encounter of Vikram Gowda and a rehabilitation package for Naxals who are presently in jail. K L Ashok of the Shantigagi Nagarika Vedike said some of the demands are before the government and some remain to be discussed. He also said there was no link between the surrender of the six Naxals and the Vikram Gowda encounter.