As many as 41 members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including six senior functionaries and four Telangana state committee members, surrendered before Telangana director general of police B Shivadhar Reddy on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, the DGP said prominent among the surrendered Maoists were: Erragolla Ravi alias Santhosh (40) from Arepally in Kamareddy district, a Telangana state committee member and divisional committee secretary who had been underground for 24 years and Kanikarapu Prabhanjan (33) from Jannaram in Mancherial district, a platoon committee member.
“Besides, a large number of Maoist party functionaries from Chhattisgarh chose to surrender before the Telangana police along with arms, following a call given by the Telangana state government headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy,” the DGP said.
As part of the surrender process, the cadres handed over 24 firearms and 733 live rounds of ammunition of various calibres & eight (08) BGL shells. The weapons include three AK-47 rifles, one INSAS light machine gun, five SLRs, seven INSAS rifles, a BGL gun and four.303 rifles.
Shivadhar Reddy said the Maoist party cadres are in a state of disarray, as the party leadership has been arbitrarily deploying cadres to unfamiliar and distant areas without their consent, often to regions where they lack basic geographical knowledge and local support.
{{/usCountry}}Shivadhar Reddy said the Maoist party cadres are in a state of disarray, as the party leadership has been arbitrarily deploying cadres to unfamiliar and distant areas without their consent, often to regions where they lack basic geographical knowledge and local support.
{{/usCountry}}“This has resulted in serious mobility constraints and acute logistical difficulties, including shortages of essential day-to-day necessities. Such conditions have caused growing frustration and hardship among the cadres, compelling many to disengage from the CPI (Maoist) organisation and choose to return to the mainstream of society,” he said.
Besides, sustained pressure from security forces and non-cooperation and dilution of their logistic networks resulting in restricted mobility and operational setbacks. “Internal rifts, factionalism, and leadership disputes within various formations of the CPI (Maoist) have also forced them to surrender,” he said.
The surrendered Maoist functionaries together carried a reward of ₹1.46 crore on their heads and the money would be disbursed to all of them as part of state and the central relief and rehabilitation policy. “An interim relief of ₹25,000 each is being given to them. Additional benefits will be extended as per the state’s rehabilitation and reintegration policy,” he said.
The DGP said in 2025 alone, a total of 509 underground CPI (Maoist) cadres, including two central committee members (CCMs), 11 state committee members, three divisional committee secretaries, 17 divisional committee members and 57 area committee members surrendered before the Telangana police.