Two top Maoist leaders have surrendered in Telangana along with 21 cadres, sources in the security establishment said on Sunday.
Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devji, 60, a Maoist commander, and Malla Raji Reddy alias Sangram, 76, a member of the central committee-cum-politburo, have laid down arms.
The development, seen as the last nail in the coffin of the outlawed organisation, came weeks before the Centre’s March 31 deadline to eliminate Naxalism from the country.
Devji, who hails from Telangana’s Jagtial district, is believed to have succeeded CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, who was killed in an encounter last year.
Sources said the two Maoist leaders, along with 21 cadres, surrendered before the special intelligence bureau of the Telangana police in Komaram-Bheem Asifabad district on Sunday.
“An official announcement of their surrender will be made in a day or two only after the formalisation of the surrender process, and the Maoist leaders are likely to be produced before the media in the presence of the top brass of Telangana police,” an Intelligence Bureau (IB) official said.
Sources said Devji and Reddy had been sending feelers to the police following the launch of a massive anti-rebel operation in Karreguttalu Hills on the border of Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
Security forces in Chhattisgarh and Telangana are said to have been mounting pressure on Maoist leaders through their families and friends to surrender. Last week, the Telangana DGP reportedly appealed to the leaders to join the mainstream.
Since January 2024, security forces have killed over 500 Maoists, especially in Chhattisgarh. Several other top leaders and hundreds of cadres have surrendered during this period, including politburo member Mallojula Venugopal Rao, considered the ideological head of the outfit.
In an interview with The Indian Express on Sunday, Rao acknowledged that the Maoist movement had failed to adapt to changing political realities.
An IB official said security forces in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Maharashtra had launched a coordinated hunt for the remaining Maoist top guns. Government sources also hinted at ongoing “back-channel talks” with Maoist groups aimed at driving a wedge between them.