Senior Maoist, 8 other operatives surrender in AP

Chelluri Narayana Rao, alias Suresh, a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and secretary of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee, surrendered to Andhra Pradesh police on Monday, along with eight other leaders from Chhattisgarh, Odisha and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army, officers said. Chelluri Narayana Rao

The group laid down their arms before director general of police Harish Kumar Gupta and other senior officials in Mangalagiri.

Narayana Rao’s surrender came a day before the Centre’s deadline to end the Maoist movement in India (March 31).

Speaking to reporters, Gupta said police seized a cache of 19 weapons based on information from the surrendered Maoist leader and cadres. The haul included one INSAS rifle, two BGLs, five .303 rifles, five SBBLs and six other weapons, along with cordex wire and equipment.

The director general of police said Narayana Rao, who carried a ₹25 lakh reward, hails from Pedavanka village in Vajrapu Kothuru block, Srikakulam district. He joined as a squad member of the erstwhile CPI (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War in November 1990 and had remained underground since.

“In the last 36 years, he grew up in ranks and worked in various positions including special guerilla commander and state military commission member and later as secretary, before being elevated to the central committee and made secretary of the AOBSZC secretary,” the director general of police said.

Narayana Rao was involved in the 2018 killings of former MLAs Kidari Sarveswara Rao and Siveri Someswara Rao. He was also linked to ambushes and attacks on police in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Speaking to reporters, Narayana Rao said he surrendered due to the Maoist movement’s decline from killings of top leaders, arrests and surrenders of senior cadres.“The movement lacks local public support and there have been no new recruitments in the party. The people are getting attracted towards welfare and developmental activities in the interior tribal areas,” he said.

“There were seven exchanges of fire, in which 18 Maoists, including three central committee members – Madvi Hidma, Gajarla Ravi alias Uday and Metturi Jogarao alias Tech Shankar – were killed. Overall, a total of 120 weapons were recovered in the last one year,” said the DGP, adding that Maoist activity in the state has reached zero.