6 CPI Maoists from Visakhapatnam Agency surrender to AP police

A total of six important CPI Maoists of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) have taken the decision to surrender before the police in the Visakhapatnam Agency area. On Thursday, the Director General of Police (DGP), Andhra Pradesh, D Gautam Sawang IPS, produced the surrendered Maoists before the media in Vijayawada. The list is as follows:

#1 32-year-old Chikkudu Chinna Rao, alias Sudheer, Divisional Committee Member (DCM) of Pedabayalu-Korukonda AC and Commander of Divisional Command, Kondrungu, Pedabayalu of Visakhapatnam District.

He was involved in 93 offences including 14 murders, 11 exchange of fires, 7 land mine blasting and 3 election offences in the 2013 Panchayat Election. There was a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on him.

#2 25-year-old Vanthala Vannu, alias Mahitha/Sailu, Area Committee Member (ACM) of Pedabayalu-Korukonda, a resident of Sampangi Gondi, GK Veedhi Mandal in Visakhapatnam District. In 2014, she joined as a militia member with the influence of Jambri (Ex DCM, died) and moved with Galikonda Dalam.

One of the Maoists to surrender, she belongs to the local Kondu tribe and hence, she had a strong grip over the villages and local public in the interior core areas of the Visakhapatnam Agency. She participated in the recent exchange of fire at Marripakalu, Kondajartha and Pemulagondi and also participated in recent murders of Korra Pilku at Kothapalem village, MLA (Kidari Sarveswara Rao) and Ex MLA (Siveri Soma) at Livitiput village. She was involved in 10 offences including 2 murders and 4 exchanges of fire. There was a reward of Rs 4 lakh on her.

#3 25-year-old Madakam Somidi, Area Committee Member (ACM), Pedabayalu-Korukonda is a native of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh District. She is the wife of Ranadev, a DCM who had died. With a reward of Rs 4 lakh on her, she was underground for 11 years and involved in 9 offences.

#4 21-year-old Madakam Manglu alias Deepak, PM, Uday (CCM) Protection Team from Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh. With a reward of Rs 1 lakh on him, he was underground for six years and was involved in 9 offences.

#5 18-year-old Poyam Rukini, alias Rinky, member of Kalimela Area Committee of Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh. After working with Bhairamgarh Area Committee, led by Mangu DCM, she was brought to AOB along with 18 other cadres in April 2021. She was involved in 3 offences and there was a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on her.

#6 18-year-old Sodi Bheeme, a native of Koyila village of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. He was underground for six years and was involved in three offences. A cash reward of 1 lakh was on him.

Speaking to the media, DGP Sawang said, “The major reasons for their surrender are lack of local public support, lack of recruitment of local tribals, discrimination of top cadre, who hailed from plain areas, towards the Adivasi cadre and extensive police out-reach programs”. The DGP said that the Maoists were under disillusionment with the obsolete Maoist ideology. The Maoists decided to surrender at Visakhapatnam Agency and were assured to be given the rehabilitation policy of Andhra Pradesh.

DGP Sawang observed that due to violent activities, the public’s perception towards Maoists, has been visibly changing and they are quickly losing the local support. Some of these activities include the killing of innocent tribals, branding them as police informers, and obstructing road construction and other developmental activities in interior areas. Their efforts to convert the cut-off area in AOB to Guerrilla Base Area has been severely affected.

DGP Sawang mentioned that due to lack of recruitment, Maoists are trying to influence the Chhattisgarh cadre to work at AOB. But due to the tough terrain and language barriers, they are finding it difficult to work here and often running away to Chhattisgarh.

Talking about the present Maoist scenario in Andhra Pradesh, DGP Sawang said that there has been a significant decline in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in Andhra Pradesh, both in numbers and geographical spread of its influence, in the last two years. Their activity has been largely confined to Visakhapatnam and the East Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh. In the last two years, the LWE cadre strength has witnessed a steep decline from 140 to 54. “Maoist military formations, which are responsible for their guerrilla actions, has been seeing a steep reduction from the last two years,” DGP added.

There used to be 8 Area Committees (Kalimela AC, Narayanpatna AC, Nandapur AC, Coffee Dalam, Galikonda AC, Pedabayalu AC, Gumma AC and Boipariguda AC) operating in early 2019. At present, they are limited to just 4 Area Committees (Galikonda AC, Pedabayalu-Korukonda AC, Gumma AC and Boipariguda AC) at the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB). Other than that, only 2 Divisional Committees (Visakha-East and Malkangiri-Koraput Border), and one military platoon are active in Andhra-Odisha Border. It is learnt that two Central Committee Members (Akkiraju Harigopal, alias RK, and Gajarla Ravi, alias Uday) are currently operating at the AOB.

In the last three months, four exchanges of fire have taken place in the Visakhapatnam District in which six important cadres were neutralised (2 DCMs, 1 ACM, and 3 Dalam members). In the last two years, the Maoists in the Visakhapatnam Agency have suffered serious setbacks due to a series of exchanges of fire, arrests and the surrender of top cadre officers.

During the press meet, DGP Gautam Sawang, appealed to the Maoists, who are mostly misguided youth, to surrender and join the mainstream and avail the benefits from the State Government.