Two top Maoists arrested, five others surrender to cops

Vijayawada: AP director general of police K.V. Rajendranath Reddy announced the arrest of two top Maoists, apart from surrender of five of them in Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the DGP said police have arrested two of the most-wanted Maoists Korra Nageswara Rao alias Nagesh @ Master @ English Master @ Abhinandan @ Ramana, and Seendri Jagan, both belonging to Alluri Sitharama Raju district. Nageswara Rao is CPI (Maoist) party’s Pedabayalu-Korukonda area committee member while Jagan is Galikonda area committee party member.

Nageswara Rao, age 50 years, belongs to Gillelabanda village in Chinthapalli mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. He carries a reward of ₹ 4 lakh and had been underground for 20 years. He is involved in 150 offences. Seendri Jagan alias Ambri @ Subbarao, aged 25 years, belongs to Nallabilli village in Koyyuru mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. He carried a reward of ₹ 1 lakh on his head, remained underground for six years and is involved in 39 offences.

The DGP said five more extremists belonging to various cadres of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) have also surrendered before the police attracted by the new surrender policy being implemented by the state government. Among the surrendered, three are party members and two militia commanders.

Those who have surrendered are:

Killo Raju alias Pedapadu Raju of Pedapadu village in G.K. Veedhi mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district, who carries ₹ 1 lakh reward and is involved in 54 offences.

Sinderi Mohan alias Mahesh alias Jambri of Nallabilli village in Koyyuru mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district, who carries ₹ 1 lakh reward, had been underground for six years and is involved in 30 offences.

Vanthala Bhaskar Rao alias Sushanth alias Jattu of Kothapalli village in G.K. Veedhi mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district, who carries ₹ 1 lakh reward, had been underground for two years and is involved in one offence.

Gemmili Kesu alias Pamurai Kesu is a militia commander belonging to Pamurai village in G.K. Veedhi mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. He is involved in 20 offences.

Vanthala Krishna alias Pamurai Krishna belongs to Pamurai village in G.K. Veedhi mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. He worked as militia commander for four years and is involved in 19 offences.

The DGP maintained 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 one year. He maintained that LWE is now largely confined to Alluri Sitharama Raju district in AP. In the last one year, LWE cadre strength has witnessed a steep decline from 100 to 48.

Rajendranath Reddy claimed that Maoist military formations, which are responsible for guerrilla actions, have seen a steep reduction from two companies (50 members each) to a mere platoon of 10 members in last one year.