Maoist leader Narasimha Reddy alias Jampanna surrenders

Hyderabad: Senior Maoist Jinugu Narasimha Reddy alias Jampanna reportedly surrendered before the police on Friday night. His wife, also a senior party leader, followed suit. 

Sources said a legislator from Warangal had mediated the surrender. He had reportedly brought Jampanna to the city for surrendered. An official announcement was likely to be made on Monday.

Considered an expert in the military operations, Jampanna, was a member of the party central committee, the apex body of Maoists. He was one of the 11 members from Telangana in the committee and carried a reward of Rs 24 lakh on his head. 

His wife carried a reward of Rs 20 lakh. While ill-health was cited as a reason for surrender, sources said ideological differences the couple had with other leaders could be the reason.

Jampanna, a native of Mahbubabad in Warangal, was instrumental in strengthening and functioning the Peoples War Group movement. Later, he held several important positions in adjoining Odhisa and Chattisgarh before becoming a member of the central committee.

Intelligence records show that Jampanna headed the Odisha State committee’s military commission and the KKBN (Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh) division of Maoists. This apart, he commanded the all-strong Dandakaranya zonal committee of the Maoists in 2014. In December 2014, he had a narrow escape from an anti-insurgency operation by special police in Telan reserve forest on the Kalahandi-Kandamahal border in Odisha.

Before his surrender, Jampanna had been confined mainly to Kandhamal  in Odhisa for the last one year. Officials said the increased anti-Maoist operations on the Andhra–Odhisa border forced him to surrender.

His association with Telangana in the initial years saw him elevated to the post of secretary North Telangana special zonal committee.

He led Maoists in the 2008 Nayagarh armoury loot and the 2004 Koraput district armoury attack that provided the much-needed ammunition to the rebels.