Former Maoist to get Rs 25 lakh

Hyderabad: Senior Maoist leader Gumudavelli Venkatakrishna Prasad, alias Gudsa Usendi, revealed that he surrendered before AP?police as he was frustrated by the indiscriminate violence perpetrated by the Maoists.

He said the extremists were killing innocents by branding them as informers and blasting school buildings. G.V.K. Prasad will be given Rs 25 lakh as reward for his rehabilitation by the state government, director-general of police B. Prasada Rao said on Thursday.

The surrendered Maoist leader said that he wished to serve society for the rest of his life and added that he might join a political party in the future. He said that he gave himself up due to his ill-health and for the sake of Telangana state.

Usendi, the official spokesperson of the Maoist party and former editor of party magazine Prbhat, had already got bail in the case against him in AP. If police from other states seek his custody, he will be handed over to them as per the law, the DGP told the media in his office.

Prasad and his wife Santoshi Markam, surrendered to the state police two days ago. “His ill health was also a reason for him to give himself up,” Rao said. Prasad, a native of Warangal district, was CPI-Maoist Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee official spokesperson and in-charge of propaganda and press unit, while his wife Santoshi Markam, a native of Kondangoan district in Chhattisgarh, was a divisional committee member of the DKSZC press unit.

“In order to encourage the underground cadres of Maoists to surrender and join mainstream, State government had ordered to give the reward when they surrender. Besides handing over the 25 lakh reward, the government would take all necessary measures to ensure a normal life with respect and dignity for them,” said Rao.

GVK Prasad, was suspected to have involved in masterminding the killing of 76 CRPF personnel near Tarmetla in Chhattisgarh and the ambush of a convoy of Chhattisgarh Congress leaders that claimed 27 lives last year in Bastar.

Responding to a query about the cases existing against him in other states, Rao said that law would take its own course and the AP police would co-operate with the other states’ police. “If the police seek his custody with warrants in connections with those cases, as per law, we will hand him over to them.” said Rao adding that he might have to face trial in those states.

GVK Prasad, who joined the Maoist movement in 1985 after dropping out of school in Hyderabad, was once arrested along with six other Maoists in 1987 in an arms case in Visakhapatnam. The same year, he was released along with others in exchange for seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers abducted by the Maoists.

GVK Prasad and his wife were produced before the media however, were taken away by the police. Rao said the couple cannot speak because of their ill-health.