Madkam Panda (27), a farmer from Chichurguda village in Sukma district of South Chhattisgarh, is leading a normal life though his village falls in an area known for Maoist violence.
Panda is one of the “rewarded Maoists” who recently surrendered before police in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
“I never had any kind of relationship or contact with the Maoists. A few months ago, I received a communication from the nearest police station that my name has figured in the list of suspected Maoists. I was asked to be present in Sukma district police headquarters,” Madkam Panda told The Hindu , adding that during the days of Salwa Judum he had worked as a Special Police Officer (SPO) for three years.
“I was told that they will remove my name from the list of suspected Maoists if I agree to pose as a surrendered Maoist. They [police] made me sign on a paper, put a cloth around my face and paraded me before the media as a surrendered Maoist,” claimed Panda.
Atul Sodi, another villager of Chichurguda who was shown as a surrendered Maoist by the Sukma police, narrated the same story.
“We were asked to go back to our village without any financial assistance,” claimed Sodi.
According to villagers of Chichurguda, Misma and Pinnabhejji village, around 47 people from their area have been asked to surrender in a similar fashion and many of them had either no link with them or stopped working for the Maoists years ago.
