Raipur, March 11 -- At least 108 Maoists carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs.3.95 crore and a large cache of weapons surrendered in Bastar district on Wednesday, police said, calling the seizure the largest-ever from a single Naxal hideout. The cadres, from the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, turned themselves in at Jagdalpur, Bastar district's headquarters. Inspector general of police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P said intelligence from the surrendered cadres led to the largest seizure of cash and valuables from a single Maoist hideout in the history of anti-Naxal operations in the country. The bounty included Rs.3.61 crore in cash, one kilogram of gold valued at about Rs.1.64 crore, and 101 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, INSAS rifles, SLRs, light machine guns, .303 rifles and barrel grenade launchers, dealing a major blow to the Maoists' military capability, police said. Key surrendered cadres included divisional committee members (DVCMs) Rahul Telam, Pandru Kovasi and Jhitru Oyam from West Bastar division; Ramdhar alias Biru from East Bastar division; and Mallesh from North Bastar division. Others were Muchaki, commander of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) battalion, and Kosa Mandavi, a DVCM from the Andhra-Odisha border area. In an official statement, the Chhattisgarh Police said, "Today, March 11, 2026 (Wednesday), at the Bastar Division headquarters in Jagdalpur, a total of 108 Maoist cadres of the DKSZC (Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee) will join the mainstream of society under the initiative Poona Margem: From Rehabilitation to Rejuvenation. Notably, based on the information provided by cadres who renounced violence and joined the mainstream, along with other intelligence inputs, the largest-ever dump recovery in the history of India's anti-Naxal operations has been made." Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma, who holds the home portfolio, said six of the surrendered cadres were DVCMs carrying a reward of Rs.8 lakh each, while others included three company platoon committee commanders, 18 platoon party committee members, 23 area committee members and 56 party members. District-wise, 37 Maoists were from Bijapur, 30 from Dantewada, 18 from Sukma, 16 from Bastar, four from Narayanpur and three from Kanker, he said. Police said the large-scale surrender reflected growing disillusionment with Maoist ideology and the impact of intensified security operations in the Bastar region. Several cadres were influenced by the state government's "Poona Margem - Rehabilitation to Rejuvenation" initiative and decided to return to the mainstream, officials added. According to police data, 2,714 Maoists have surrendered in Chhattisgarh in the last 26 months, including 2,625 in Bastar division between January 1, 2024 and March 9, 2026. Union home minister Amit Shah has set March 31, 2026, as the deadline for eliminating Naxalism from the country. Ahead of the government's deadline, there are just two Central Committee members of the CPI (Maoist) who are still wanted. Even as of January 1 last year, the proscribed party's Central Committee had 21 members, 19 of whom had surrendered or were killed in gunfights. At its peak during the early 2000s, the CPI(Maoist) had 40-45 CC members....