Sukma: Twenty Naxalites, including five women cadres, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s worst insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday, police said.

They turned themselves in before senior police officials here citing disappointment with “inhuman” and “hollow” Maoist ideology, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan said.

One of the surrendered Naxalites, Uika Lakhma, operated as militia deputy commander.

The others were active as members of the militia and Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan (DAKMS), Krantikari Mahila Adivasi Sangthan (KAMS), Chetna Natya Mandli (CNM), all frontal wings of Naxalites, he said.

They were allegedly involved in executing Maoist activities, including putting up posters, spreading the banned outfit’s ideology and doing recce, in Jagargunda police station area of the district, he said.

The district police unit and Central Reserve Police Force played an instrumental role in their surrender, Chavan added.

The official said the surrendered ultras were also “impressed” by the district police’s rehabilitation drive for Naxalites – ‘Puna Narkom’ (a term coined in local Gondi dialect which means ‘new dawn, new beginning’).

The surrendered Naxalites will be provided with facilities as per the state government’s ‘Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy’, he added.