The four top ten Maoists leaders who formally surrendered on Tuesday
Hyderabad: Two days ago, on February 22, top Maoist leaders surrendered before the Telangana police. They were considered among the last surviving top members and was a significant setback to the armed revolution.
The top brass consists of Communist Party of India (Maoist)’s Politburo Member (PBM) Tippiri Thirupati alias Devuji alias Kumma Dada, Central Committee members (CCM) Malla Raji Reddy alias Sangram, Telangana State Committee Secretary (SCC) Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar alias Jagan and State Committee Member (SCM) Nune Narsimha Reddy alias Ganganna alias Sannu Dada, who formally gave up arms before the government on Tuesday, February 24.
Director General of Police (DGP) B Shivadhar Reddy said the surrender of Bade Chokka Rao and Nune Narsimha Reddy has rendered defunct the CPI (Maoist)’s Telangana unit.
A total of 544 underground cadre, including four CCMs, 15 SCMs, 25 Divisional Committee Secretaries (DVC), 63 Area Committee Members (ACM) and 437 party members laid down their arms.
Among those surrendered, 11 underground cadres, two CCMs, three SCMs, two DVCs and four ACMs hail from Telangana.
According to the DGP, the four leaders have decided to renounce violence after ideological divergence, internal rifts, growing disillusionment and the widening gap between doctrinal rhetoric and ground realities. “They, and several others, who surrendered with them have chosen to prioritise their health and personal dignity by committing themselves to law-abiding life within the legal framework,” the DGP said.
The 62-year-old Tippiri Thirupathi is known by several names – Devuji, Ramesh, Sanjeev, Chethan and Kumma Dada. He was born in the Korutla town of Jagtial district to a farming family. After completing his schooling, he joined the Government Junior College, Korutla, where he first came across revolutionary politics, which subsequently led him to join the Radical Students Union (RSU).
In 1982, he joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation People’s War (CPIL (ML) PW). He worked as a foot soldier in Dandakaranya but quickly rose in ranks.
By 1989, Tippiri Thirupathi was the Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) in the Gadchiroli Divisional Committee, and in 1993, he was appointed as Secretary of the North Gadchiroli Sub-Divisional Committee.
In 2017, he assumed charge as the Central Military Commission (CMC), commanding armed wings and subsequently elected as a Politburo Member (PBM).
Tippiri Thirupathi married Arike Jaini, alias Srujana, a fellow member. She died in 2020 in an exchange of fire in the Kasansur forest area of Maharashtra.
Seventy-six-year-old Malla Raji Reddy, alias Sangram, hails from Peddapally district, also from a farming family. He joined the Radical Students Union in 1974 and participated in the Janata Sarkar rally along with the late Mallojula Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji.
Two years later, the young man was arrested in Korutla and Jagtial but was released in 1977.
He excelled in every role assigned to him. In 2001, he was made in-charge to South West Regional Bureau (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala).
He was present when the CPIL (ML) PW merged into CPI (Maoist) in 2001, and four years later, he was promoted to Politburo Member. In 2022, he was transferred to Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and made its in-charge.
Malla Raji Reddy married Rathamma alias Nirmala in 1975. She joined CPI (ML) People’s War in 1982, after giving birth to their daughter, Snehalatha. In 1998, she died during an encounter at Chandanar forest area of Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh.
In 2001, Malla Raji Reddy remarried Majji Bichi alias Suguna or Sangeetha.
A 47-year-old member, Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar is from Kalvapalli village of Mulugu district, born to a farmer father and a homemaker mother with one younger brother and two siblings.
In 1996, while still in Class 10, he joined the Radical Students’ Union (RSU). He was highly inspired by his cousin Bade Nageshwar Rao alias Prabhakar and joined the CPI (ML) People’s War in 1998, while still studying intermediate at the Government Junior College in Govindraopet.
Initially, he worked as a party member in the Eturnagaram-Mahadevpur area. In 2001, he was promoted to the Commander of the Kothagudem–Palvancha Area Committee.
He has held several key organisational positions over the years.
In 2015, he was inducted into the State Committee of the Telangana unit and given charge of the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal (KKW) division. Four years later, he oversaw the military affairs for the Telangana State Committee. He was elevated as Secretary of the Telangana State Committee in January 2025.
In 2001, Damodar married Etti Narsamma alias Sabitha, a party member from Gogupalle village. She was also killed in an exchange of fire in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh in April 2012. He later married Madakam Kosi alias Rajitha in October 2016, a member associated with the Cherla Local Organisation Squad (LOS). She was arrested by Telangana Police in 2022 and is currently in judicial custody.
Nune Narsimha Reddy alias Ganganna alias Rahul alias Sannu, is a 62-year-old from Vallur village in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. He, too, comes from a farming family. Nune Narsimha Reddy completed his BSc from Narsaraopet Degree College and enrolled in LLB at Nagarjuna University in Guntur.
In 1987, he joined the Radical Students’ Union, and three years later, he joined the armed movement. He was made in charge of the Durgi unit, a position he held until 1993, and was later promoted to Area Committee Member (ACM) and Commander.
Nune Narsimha Reddy later shifted to the South Coastal Belt Committee of Andhra Pradesh in 1995 and was promoted to Divisional Committee Member in 1998, working in the Guntur district committee until 2001.
He was arrested in Vijayawada in February 2002 and released in 2004. During the same year, he was part of the team that extended support to the CPI (Maoist) leadership during the peace talks with the then united Andhra Pradesh government.
In 2005, he was transferred to the Andhra–Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), where he worked in the political education wing and also undertook assignments in the Bihar–Jharkhand region. He was elevated to the State Committee in 2008.
Nune Narsimha Reddy was again arrested in Bokaro district of Jharkhand in 2010 and released in May 2014. He later rejoined the organisation and continued to work in the AOBSZC between 2016 and 2020.
In 2020, he was moved to the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee and attached to the PLGA 1st Battalion as political adviser for education. He also served as an adviser to the South Sub-Zonal Bureau.
In May 2025, he was shifted to the Telangana State Committee, where he is continuing as a State Committee member.
In 1994, Nune Narsimha Reddy married Bootham Annapurna, alias Padma, an Area Committee Member and an activist with the Jana Natya Mandali. She was arrested in 2016 and is currently residing in her native village in Palnadu district.
This post was last modified on February 24, 2026 7:16 pm