As many as 103 Naxalites, 49 of them carrying a collective bounty of more than Rs 1 crore, surrendered before authorities in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, a police official said.

The cadres, including 22 women, turned themselves in before senior police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officials, citing disappointment with “hollow” Maoist ideology and differences within the banned outfit CPI (Maoist), Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.

This was perhaps one of the largest-ever surrenders by Left-wing extremists in a single day in Chhattisgarh.

They were also impressed with development works being carried out in the Bastar region and decided to eschew the path of armed rebellion, he said.

The cadres said they were particularly impressed by “

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