By IANS,
Hyderabad : The Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh received a huge setback with Sambasivudu, the top most leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), surrendering before police here Sunday night.
Sambasivudu, whose whereabouts were a mystery for the last one year, surrendered before a top police official at the state police headquarters here, police said.
Home Minister K. Jana Reddy confirmed that the CPI-Maoist secretary had surrendered. He, however, declined to provide further details. The Maoist leader is likely to be produced before the media Monday.
Sambasivudu, whose real name is Konakuri Ailaiah, was carrying a reward of Rs.1 million and was involved in several cases including the failed assasination attempt on then chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in 2003.
Hailing from Nalgonda district in Telangana region, Sambasivudu became the top most leader of the Maoist group in 2006 following the killing of Madhav by police. Madhav and seven other Maoist guerrillas were killed in an alleged gun battle with police in Nallamalla forests in Prakasm district on July 23, 2006.
Sambasivudu, who became active in the Maoist movement in 1996, held several positions in the outfit like dalam (armed squad) member, commander, Mahabubnagar district committee secretary and north Telangana division secretary before becoming state secretary.
He was the mastermind behind several major attacks including the attack on Naidu, killing of Congress party legislator C. Narsi Reddy in 2005 and the attacks on police stations and police officers.
Sambasivudu is believed to have surrendered due to serious differences among the Maoist leadership and also due to his failing health. His whereabouts were not known for last one year and his family members had claimed that he was in police custody. They had even approached the home minister and the state human rights commission.
Sambasivudu’s surrender has come as yet another blow to the Maoist movement in the state. The movement received serious setbacks in recent times with police eliminating several top leaders and armed cadres of the outfit.
Ever since the failure of first direct peace talks between the Maoists and the government in 2005, police achieved many successes in their fight against Maoists. The Maoist violence has come down drastically during last two years.
Maoist violence in the state has claimed more than 6,000 lives in the last four decades.