Deep inside the dense Saranda forests in Jharkhand, over 3,000 CRPF CoBRA commandos have been deployed to hunt for the last active CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member, Misir Besra.
Besra, who carries a ₹1 crore reward, is holed up in the forest with a clutch of loyal troops, but his family has made a final appeal for him to lay down arms.
His son and younger brother, Devilal Besra, have written letters urging him to surrender, saying the insurgency has effectively collapsed.
Security forces said Besra refuses to surrender, even as most other senior Maoist leaders have either laid down arms or been neutralised over the past two years.
A senior government official said three battalions of the CRPF's CoBRA commandos have already reached Jharkhand and are working with the Special Task Force (STF) of Jharkhand Police to find Besra and his other cadres.
