Naxal Couple, Involved In Killing Of 29 Cops Including a SP, surrender

RAIPUR: A Maoist couple allegedly involved in the killing of 29 cops including a local superintendent of police in Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh in 2009 on Friday surrendered before the police in Kondagaon in Bastar in the state.

The Naxal couple, Resing Kumeti and Punay Achala, surrendered before the Kondagaon district superintendent of police Akshay Kumar, police said.

The two Maoists, carrying a bounty of Rs eight lakh each, joined the Naxal cadres in 2002 and were allegedly involved in a number of major attacks on security personnel in the last two decades, police said.

The rebel duo were allegedly involved in the Maoist ambush on a police party in Madanwada in Rajnandgaon district on July 12, 2009 in which 29 police personnel including the then superintendent of police Vinod Kumar Choubey were killed.

They were also allegedly involved in the attack on a police party in Amanora jungle in Gariaband district in Chhattisgarh on May 24, 2011 in which nine cops including the local additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rajesh Pawar were killed.

They were also allegedly involved in the looting of arms and ammunition in the district armory and six other police stations in Koraput district in south Odisha in 2004.

A nearly 1000-strong Maoist cadres raided the district armory and other police stations in a six-hour raid in the district headquarters of Koraput on February four, 2004, and looted a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

The Maoists had then through a press release claimed to have looted weapons, ammunition and grenades valued at around Rs 50 crore.

Police sources had estimated that approximately 200 weapons were stolen.

The loot included weapons such as .303 rifles, light machine guns (LMGs), self-loaded rifles (SLRs), mortars, Stens, revolvers and pistols, along with over 30,000 rounds of ammunition, and a huge number of grenades.