PLGA top leaders among 100 Maoists lay down arms in T

Hyderabad: Nearly 100 Maoist cadres, including commanders and divisional committee members (DCMs), have surrendered before the Telangana police, dealing a major blow to the banned outfit's operational strength.Acting on GPS coordinates provided by the surrendered cadres, security forces recovered at least 70 weapons from Maoist dumps in the Karreguttalu forest belt spanning Mulugu and Kothagudem districts. Bomb disposal teams cleared mines before Greyhounds and other police units retrieved the cache, which included AK-47s, INSAS rifles and SLRs. Police said the surrendered cadres are likely to be officially presented on Thursday or in the coming days. Among them include battalion and company-level commanders of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), armed fighters, bodyguards, support staff and a few DCMs from Telangana and Chhattisgarh. The senior leaders who laid down arms were Korsa Lakku, a company commander of a PLGA battalion; Uike Kallu, a company platoon commander; Chalasani Navatha alias Chandra; and Aruna and Sudhakar, both of DCM rank.‘Interrogation on'Chalasani Navatha alias Chandra, daughter of Chalasani Prasad, served as a DCM in the Dandakaranya special zonal committee in Chhattisgarh. Her last known address is HB Colony, Visakhapatnam. Aruna hails from Kothagudem district, while Sudhakar is from Jayashankar Bhupalpalli district. Police said senior leader Muppidi Sambaiah had earlier surrendered before Chhattisgarh police. With these surrenders, only an estimated 10 to 15 cadres are believed to remain in the Karreguttalu area on the Chhattisgarh side, while a few others are suspected to be in Odisha and Jharkhand, sources said. In recent weeks, senior Maoists — Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devji, Malla Raji Reddy alias Sangram, Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar and Nune Narasimha Reddy — have also surrendered before Telangana police. Officials said the leaders are currently being interrogated by state police and central agencies.