Gadchiroli (Maharashtra): A dreaded and ‘most wanted’ woman Maoist with a reward of Rs 2 lakh on her head, has laid down arms before the Gadchiroli Police, a top official said here on Monday.
She has been identified as Jyoti Dassa Kulmethe, alias Tara, 28, who turned a rebel at the age of 20, joining the Aheri Dalam as a member, and surrendered during the ongoing ‘Naxal Week’ in the district.
Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Neelotpal said that Kulmethe was involved in three murders, eight encounters with the security forces, plus another crime of dacoity, with cases lodged against her in different police stations.
Talking about her criminal career, Neelotpal said that she had thrown her lot with the Reds in 2016 and was a member of the Aheri Dalam, and later transferred to the Bhamragad Dalam where she functioned till date.
She participated in the brutal murders that were reported in Mauja-Kothi (2021), Mildapalli (2013) and Tadgaon (2024) areas in the Maoist-infested district.
Kulmethe was directly involved in eight police encounters with security forces in the past eight years that took place in Kavatharam (2016), Sheda-Kishtapur and Asha-Nainer (2017), Moremetta (2019), Aldandi and Yerdalmi (2020), Kakurmad in Chhattisgarh (2021), at Hikekar forests (2024), and finally a dacoity in Kapevancha-Rajaram (2022).
In view of her bloody record, the state government had announced a bounty of RS Two Lakhs a few years ago, but post-surrender she will be entitled to a rehabilitation and reward of Rs 4.5 lakhs, plus other benefits.
Besides Neelotpal, other officers from the Maharashtra Police and CRPF involved in planning and implementing the surrender included Sandip Patil, Ajaykumar Sharma, Shambhu Kuma, Sumit Verma, said an official.
Neelotpal said that with Kulmethe’s return to the social mainstream, a total of 31 most wanted and vile extremists, including several women, have surrendered to the security forces in the past two years.
(IANS)
