As the 11th anniversary of the brutal Naxal attack on the police force in Rajnandgaon on July 12, 2009 was observed on Sunday, a Naxal who led the ambush, paid tribute to the slain policemen.
This was one of the worst Maoist attacks in the state, in which Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police (SP) Vinod Kumar Choubey, along with 28 other policemen, was killed when he was leading police reinforcements for Madanwada.
One Naxal personnel who carried out the attack was Chhotu Padda, the section commander of company number 4. He and his wife Sunita were at the forefront of the attacks on the police force and Padda was the one who gunned down SP Choubey. However, three years after the attack, Padda and his wife surrendered in 2012 and they are now members of the police force in Rajnandgaon.
Call it fate or irony, Padda is also an active participant in the anniversary celebrations. He has taken it upon himself to clean and paint the late SP Chaubey's statue. "I am now living a normal happy life with my wife and have realised the significance of a simple life," Padda said.
The surrender policy for the Naxals after the 2009 ambush saw dramatic changes, following which many of them surrendered. As a constable in the Rajnandgaon police force, Padda now works hand-in-hand to root out the Naxals from the state.
( With inputs from ANI )