Top Maoist leaders surrender before Telangana DGP

Two top Maoist leaders and 18 cadres surrendered in Hyderabad, handing over 48 firearms, ammunition and cash, significantly weakening CPI (Maoist) operations in Telangana

Hyderabad: Two top Maoist leaders Badse Sukka alias Deva, Dandakaranya State Zonal Committee Member and Kankanala Raji Reddy along with 18 other Maoist cadres surrendered before the Telangana police in Hyderabad on Sunday. Along with them the cadre brought along 48 fire arms and handed over to the police.

“With the surrender of Deva, the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army of CPI (Maoist) party has nearly collapsed,” said Telangana DGP, B Shivadhar Reddy.

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Deva, according to the police, is the second most important tribal leader in CPI (Maoist) and was a contemporary of Madavi Hidma, who was killed in an encounter last year in A.P. Deva, and Hidma are from the same village Puvvarthi, in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

“Deva followed Hidma and become an expert in military strategies, procurement of explosives, manufacturing fire arms, IEDs etc. He is a perfect strategist and ruthless in eliminating enemies. He planned several ambushes/raids like Jheram Ghati, in which Mahendra Karma, minister and other Indian National Congress leaders were killed,” said Telangana DGP. He carries a reward of Rs. 75 lakh.

The other top leader, Kankanala Raji Reddy alias Venkatesh, who belongs to the Peddapalli district in Telangana, joined the CPI ML in April 1997. He played a key role in establishing guerrilla base on Karreguttalu hills. “After his surrender, except Telangana State Committee secretary Damodhar, there is no State committee member in TSC,” said the DGP.

As part of the surrender process, they handed over 48 firearms and 2206 live ammunition of various calibres, highest in recent time in the country. Net cash of Rs. 20.30 lakh was also handed over by the surrendered Maoist to the security forces.

“The surrender of weapons had significantly weakened the operational and combat capability of the CPI (Maoist) in the region,” said B Shivadhar Reddy. He added that since 2024 a total of 576 Maoist cadres of various ranks surrendered before the Telangana police.

Weapons: The surrendered Maoist cadre handed over an Israel made Tavor rifle and US made Colt rifle, among the 48 weapons, to the police.

Shivadhar Reddy said the surrendered cadres have carried along with them arms dump and handed over to the police. “We are investigating from where they got the weapons. A majority of the weapons are suspected to have been looted from the security forces during some ambushes,” he said.

The other firearms handed over to the police including Light Machine Guns, AK 47 rifles, INSAS rifles, Self Loading Rifles (SLR), Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), Single Shot Gun, Air Gun, two grenades and 2,206 rounds of ammunition.