Maoist leader, 2 daughters surrender

RAYAGADA: An area commander of the Bansadhara division of Maoists Mina Palaka (40) along with his two daughters surrendered before the Rayagada SP Anup Krishna on Wednesday. The daughters have been identified as 18-year-old Laxmi and Saraswati (19).Police said Mina Palaka was one of the main associates of Sabyasachi Panda and  had worked in Chandrapur in Rayagada, Kandhamal and Gajapati districts. He was working for the organisation for the last 11 years.His younger daughter Laxmi was working with Azad for the last three years and after arrest of Azad, she joined her father and started working in Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts. Likewise, Saraswati was working with Sabyasachi Panda in Daringibadi and Kerubadi areas of Kandhamal district for the last seven years. They revealed that the Maoists were forcibly recruiting small girls to act as ‘child soldiers’ and many of them are being sexually exploited by Chhattisgarh cadres. Both Laxmi and Saraswati were trained in the use of weapons under Bansadhara and Ghumsur divisions respectively.  Mina was involved in nine criminal cases. He also worked as an organiser and courier for the Maoists in Bansadhara division. The SP and DIG (south western) Soumendra Priyadarsi said all steps would be taken to rehabilitate them as per the government’s surrender policy.One Cadre Arrested,Another SurrendersPhulbani: A Maoist Tuna Pradhan of Sakadi village under G Udaygiri police limits was arrested by Kandhamal police on Wednesday. Acting on the information provided by two Maoists Herada Digal and Sudhansu Naik who were arrested on Tuesday, G Udaygiri police arrested Tuna from his house. He had joined the outfit in 2009 and had undergone training for three months. He was an active cadre with the Ghumsar division and involved in recruiting cadres, said SDPO Satya Ranjan Mallick. In another case, Maoist cadre Pabitra Naik (35) of Nandagiri under G Udaygiri police limits surrendered at the Town Police station on Tuesday. He was working as a sentry with the  outfit since 2009 and involved in mostly fixing landmines and putting up Maoist posters. He said that he had decided to surrender as he was not paid regularly by the seniors.