Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Jun 17: In a significant breakthrough for security agencies, senior Maoist leader Shakuntala Mahato, also known by the aliases Pushpa, Pari and Barsha, surrendered before Kolkata Police on Wednesday, ending a decades-long association with the banned insurgent movement.
Officials said the CPI (Maoist) zonal committee member surrendered at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar along with weapons and 46 rounds of ammunition. She was carrying a reward of ?10 lakh on her head.
According to police sources, Mahato was involved in planning and executing several Maoist operations over the years. She had reportedly fled from the Saranda forests in Jharkhand during intensified anti-Maoist operations conducted by security forces, leading to speculation that she had been hiding in West Bengal.
Addressing the media after her surrender, Mahato appealed to active Maoist members to abandon violence and return to society.
“Those who are still isolated should come back to the mainstream. The government is undertaking several development initiatives, and it is in everyone's interest to lay down arms and participate in the development process,” she said.
A native of Mechua village in the Belpahari area of Jhargram district in West Bengal, Mahato entered the Maoist movement at a very young age.
Officials said she joined the organisation when she was just 10 years old. Though enrolled in school up to Class 5, she never continued her education and gradually became involved in Maoist activities, eventually taking up arms.
During the Left Front era, she remained one of the most wanted insurgents, prompting Maoist leaders to shift her to the Parasnath hills region in present-day Jharkhand to evade police action. She was later brought back to West Bengal to undertake organisational responsibilities.
In 2003, while operating in Jhargram, she met Maoist area commander Atul Mahato. The two later married in 2005 in the Tamar forests of Jharkhand, a year after the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Over the years, she worked extensively in Maoist strongholds across eastern India, including Belpahari, Dalma, Ghatshila, Parasnath, Bundu-Tamar and Saranda.
She also played a role alongside Maoist leader Kishanji during the Lalgarh movement in West Bengal.
Following intensified anti-Maoist operations after 2012, several Maoist units shifted their activities to Jharkhand. However, sustained action by security forces gradually weakened their network there as well.
The Centre has, over the past several years, intensified its campaign to dismantle Maoist and Naxal networks across the country. The operations have led to numerous arrests, encounters and surrenders.
Officials described Mahato's surrender as a significant development, noting that one of the movement's long-time operatives has now chosen to abandon the path of armed struggle and reintegrate into mainstream society.