Mohla Manpur (Chhattisgarh) [India], June 18 : In a significant setback to the CPI (Maoist), a senior Naxal couple, active in Left Wing Extremism for the past 25 years, surrendered before the police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Chhattisgarh's Mohla Manpur district on Wednesday.
The couple, Jeevan Tulavi (45) alias Ram Tulavi and his wife Agasha (35) alias Aarti Korram, surrendered before Inspector General (IG) Rajnandgaon Range Abhishek Shandilya, Superintendent of Police YP Singh, and Commandant of 27 Battalion ITBP Vivek Kumar Pandey, along with officers from 44 Battalion ITBP.
According to an official release from the ITBP, Jeevan Tulavi, a resident of Parvidih village under Mohla police station, was a Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) and the Education Unit Commander of the Maad Division. A reward of Rs 8 lakh had been declared on him.
Tulavi joined the CPI (Maoist) in 2008 and initially worked with the military wing of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) in South Rajnandgaon. Post-2012-13, he was assigned to the Mobile Political School (MOPOS) of the Maad Division as a teacher propagating Maoist ideology. He has since led the division's education unit, travelling extensively across villages in Abujhmad and conducting ideological training through the Mobile Academic School (MAS).
His wife, Agasha, is a resident of Telitola village under Mohla police station. She served as an Area Committee Member (ACM), worked with the press team of the Maad Division, and was the head of the Chetna Natya Mandali (CNM) -- the cultural wing of the Maoists. Since the early 2000s, she has been involved as a singer, dancer, poet, orator, and composer, apart from handling computer operations and preparing press releases for the extremist group.
In the last 15 years, continuous operations by the police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the erstwhile Rajnandgaon district and presently Mohla Manpur Ambagarh district have dealt a severe blow to the activities of left wing extremists. Notably, five senior cadres of the LWEs hailing from the district have surrendered in the past three months giving a big jolt to the naxals in the district which shares its borders with most affected LWE districts of Garhchiroli and Kanker.