Thirteen Left-wing extremists, who were accomplices of veteran CPI(Maoist) leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee alias 'Kanchan Da' arrested earlier this year, have surrendered in Dibrugarh and Cachar districts of Assam, a top police officer said.
Taking to Twitter Special Director General of Police, GP Singh said "13 cadres of proscribed CPI-M joined mainstream today - leaving the path of violence behind - at Dibrugarh and Cachar. They are associates of CPI-M leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee who was arrested earlier this year by Assam Police."
Veteran CPI(Maoist) leader and a member of its central committee, Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee, was arrested in Cachar district on March 6 this year. Additional Superintendent of Police of Dibrugarh, Bitul Chetia had said earlier on Thursday that nine persons claiming to be Maoist cadres had approached the government for surrender, and the district police was verifying their connection with the proscribed CPI(Maoist). While one of them was known to have links with the extremists, there was no information on the other in police records, the Additional Superintendent of Police said.
Chetia said that two other persons with suspected links with CPI (Maoist) were apprehended in Dibrugarh earlier this month.One pistol, magazine and ammunition were seized from them.
72-year-old Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee was tasked to set up a state-level committee of the CPI(Maoist) in Assam and create a "red corridor" from a neighbouring country to other Maoists-infected states of India like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh among others, police had said after his arrest.