A 62-year-old Maoist leader, in-charge of the Agricultural Wing of the south Bastar division committee of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), surrendered before the police in Bhupalpally of Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Saturday.
The surrendered Maoist, identified as Machha Somaiah alias Sammaiah, carries a reward of ₹8 lakh on his head. He is a native of Pambapur village in Bhupalpally mandal. He had been underground for the last 32 years, police said.
He turned himself in before Jayashankar Bhupalpally Superintendent of Police Kiran Khare at the District Police Office in Bhupalpally. Somaiah joined the then People’s War Group’s frontal organisation — Rythu Coolie Sangham — in 1990 and was subsequently arrested by the police in 1992.
After his release from the jail, he joined the PWG Mahadevpur Area Committee in 1993.
He worked in the banned outfit in various ranks before being transferred to the Dandakaranya forest region in Chhattisgarh in 2007, police added.
As an in-charge of Krishi Vibhag of the CPI (Maoist) ‘janatana sarkar’ in parts of Dandakaranya, he reportedly supervised digging of tanks as a source of minor irrigation for Adivasis.
Published – January 11, 2025 08:48 pm IST