Guntur: 2 Maoists arrested, five others give up

Mangalagiri(Guntur district): Director general of police K V Rajendranath Reddy announced the arrest two hardcore Maoists who were involved in serious crimes, including murders, attempted murders and other offences. He also announced the surrender of five other disillusioned Maoists, during the media conference at the police headquarters here on Friday.

The DGP said that Alluri Sitarama Raju district police arrested the hardcore Maoists Korra Nageswara Rao, who carries Rs 4 lakh reward on his head and Seendri Jagan who carries Rs 1 lakh reward on him.

Nageswara Rao, who ran by several aliases and was active in the Maoists for two decades, was involved in over 100 offences, including two double murders and a murder. He twice escaped in exchange of fire incidents with police in 2020 and 2021.

Jagan, on the other hand, regularly moved with the Maoist Dalam of the Galikonda area and provided food, besides performing sentry and patrolling duties. In his six-year association with the banned outfit, Jagan attended several meeting of the Maoists.

The DGP said of the five who surrendered, three were party members who carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh each of their heads. The other two were militia commanders. Lack of people's support for the Maoists' activities and the welfare programmes being implemented for the tribals were cited as some of the reasons for the surrender of these activists.

They were accused in several cases of murder and landmine blasts. Rajendranath Reddy said the Maoist cadre strength in AP had fallen from 100 to 48 in the last one year. Of the 48, 18 were functioning in the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee and rest in other state units.

Maoist military formations that were responsible for their guerrilla actions have been reduced from two companies (of 50 members each) to just a platoon (of 10) now, the DGP said.

"Not only in terms of numbers but also in geographical spread, Left wing extremism in the state is now confined only to Alluri Sitaramaraju district. By blocking construction of roads and other development activities, and also killing innocent tribals by branding them as police informers, the Maoists have lost people's support," the DGP pointed out.

Also, the police outreach and skill development programmes and creation of employment opportunities have helped in distancing the tribals away from the outlaws, he added.

In the last year, four exchanges of fire incidents were reported in the (old) Visakhapatnam district in which six important cadres, including two division committee members and two area committee members, of the Maoists were neutralised.

"We had also arrested a total of 42 Maoist cadres, including two ACMs, while 17 more had surrendered," the DGP said.