Four Naxals surrender in Chikkamagaluru
Chikmagaluru: Neelaguli Padmanabha alias Parshuram, his wife Bharathi, Raju and his wife Rizwan who were active in Chikkamagaluru district surrendered to the police and returned to mainstream of the society on Monday November 14.
All the four surrendered before the superintendent of Police Chikkamagaluru K Annamalai and the state government regulatory committee member A K Subbaiah, Shanthigagi Nagarika Vedike member Gowri Lankesh and Advocate K P Sripal.
The four, along with Gauri Lankesh arrived at the travellers bungalow here around 2 pm in a sports utility vehicle. They were produced before another member of the State Committee for Resettlement of Leftist Maoists and advocate A K Subbaiah.
Advocate Sripal and Superintendent of Police K Annamalai were present. They were later produced before the District Committee for Resettlement of Maoists headed by Deputy Commissioner G Satyavathi. Later, they told reporters that false cases have been foisted against them and they had not indulged in armed struggle. They said they decided to surrender before authorities to lead a dignified life, without being influenced by the rehabilitation package offered by the government. “We have been involved in different professions to eke out a living and will continue to fight for people’s cause in a democratic set up,” they added.
Padmanabh said, “As a member of Karnataka Vimochana Ranga, I participated in the struggle against mining at Kudremukh, Save Tunga river movement among others. During one such movement in 2004, Maoist top gun Saketh Rajan (who was later killed in an encounter in 2005) had asked me to come to Barkana for talks. The police had then opened fire and I sustained bullet injuries in my leg. After that I went underground. When fellow activists Sirimane Nagaraj and Noor Zulfiker returned to the social mainstream, we too decided to follow them.”
Speaking to Mangalorean.com SP Annamalai said that, today 4 naxals who were active in naxal activities in the district surrendered. All the four were in hiding since many years. All of the them were involved in a number of crimes. Padmanabh had escaped during the Barkana Encounter in the Agumbe police station limits many years ago. Many cases were registered against Padmanabh, Bharathi and Rizwan in Shringeri and other police stations in the district. Necessary assistance will be provided to them, as per the rehabilitation and surrender policy of the government. More naxals are expected to come forward to surrender and come back to the mainstream of the society soon, he added.