Three senior Maoist leaders surrender before Telangana DGP

Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough for the Telangana Police, three senior leaders of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) surrendered before Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy on Friday, marking a significant setback to the extremist outfit’s presence in the region.
The surrendered leaders are Kunkati Venkataiah alias Vikas, who had been underground for 36 years, Mogilicherla Venkatraju alias Raju, underground for 35 years, and Thodem Ganga alias Sony, who spent 21 years in the Maoist ranks.
According to the police, Venkataiah, a native of Siddipet district, served as a State Committee Member and Secretary of the South Bastar Division under the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee. His wife, Kodi Manjula alias Nirmala, had earlier surrendered in Warangal in 2024.
Speaking on their surrender, Shivadhar Reddy said it was a major morale boost for anti-Maoist operations and reflected the growing willingness among cadres to rejoin the mainstream and lead peaceful lives.
“Due to deteriorating health and growing ideological differences, they decided to disassociate from the CPI (Maoist) organisation and rejoin the mainstream with the support of the state government,” the DGP said. He appealed to all underground Maoist cadres native to Telangana to return to their native villages and lead normal lives.
So far in 2025, a total of 412 underground cadres of the CPI (Maoist), including one Central Committee Member, four State Committee Members, two Divisional Committee Secretaries, and eight Divisional Committee Members, have surrendered before the Telangana Police.
As of now, a total of 72 underground cadres of the CPI (Maoist) are natives of Telangana.