Hyderabad: A senior member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) with a bounty of Rs 25 lakh and most wanted leaders surrendered before the Telangana police on Saturday, September 13.
According to local reports, Pothula Padmavathi alias Sujathakka, is the widow of Kishenji, a Maoist leader who was killed in November 2011. The couple have one daughter.
The 62-year-old surrendered before Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Dr Jitender. She was the central committee member (CCM), secretariat member, south sub-zonal bureau secretary of Chhattisgarh and has 106 cases booked against her.
When she was a student at the Gadwal’s government junior college in 1982, Padmavathi joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML)) People’s War Group influenced by her cousin and senior Maoist Patel Sudhakar Reddy.
She wrote articles for Telugu magazines under the pseudonym ‘Myna,’ thus gaining the nickname Mynakka.
A few other Maoists also surrendered to the police. A formal press conference is awaited on Saturday, September 13.
In July, five Maoists surrendered before the Telangana police in Mulugu district.
In recent times, a larger number of senior Maoist party operatives have been surrendering themselves, mostly because of health issues.
The Maoist party has been suffering huge losses in the ongoing anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and other states.
The party lost its top leader, Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, on May 21, in an encounter that claimed the lives of 27 others.
Some of the top leaders killed include Tentu Lakshmi Narasimha Chalam, alias Sudhakar, Modem Balakrishna alias Balanna, Katakam Sudarshan, Pratap Reddy Ramachandra Reddy alias Chalapathi, Mylarapu Adellu alias Bhaskar.
According to Mulugu police, Maoist cadres have been surrendering due to the joint awareness program by Mulugu District Police and CRPF for the development and welfare of tribal people under the initiative ‘Poru Kanna Ooru Minna – Mana Ooruki Tirigi Randi’.
(This copy has been updated with the latest feature photo and more information)
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