Maoist couple surrenders before Telangana police after four decades

Hyderabad: Maoist Central Committee (CC) member P Narahari, a native of Hanumakonda, and his wife, M Danamma, a senior party member from Guntur district, surrendered before the Telangana DGP C V Anand on Tuesday after working for the proscribed organisation for over four decades. The couple had been working with the technical team in the Bihar and Jharkhand regions for the past two decades, training cadres in the manufacture and maintenance of firearms.Narahari, 64, a native of Somidi village in Hanumakonda district, joined the Naxal movement in 1982 after being influenced by Radical Students Union (RSU) activities during his student days in Warangal. Until 1985, he worked in the Kunta dalam and, in 1986, was involved in an exchange of fire at Burgampadu in the then Khammam district. From 1986 to 1988, he worked as the party’s city organiser in Hyderabad and, from 1988 to 1990, along with his wife, worked as a ‘den keeper’ in Bengaluru, providing shelter to party workers on the run from the police.From 1990 to 2004, he worked in the arms supply and technical wings in Dandakaranya and Nagpur. In 2005, he was transferred to Jharkhand and, the following year, was promoted to State Committee member. He also became a member of the Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee (BJSAC) and was put in charge of its technical committee. In 2014, he was transferred to the Bihar state committee and, in 2017, became a Central Committee member. In 2026, he became Secretary of the BJAC.Anand said Narahari possessed expertise in the manufacture and maintenance of firearms, mortars, rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, grenades and booby traps. “He also imparted training to Maoist cadres in weapons production, repair and maintenance,” the DGP said.Danamma, a native of Gamalapadu in Guntur district, married Narahari in 1988. She worked alongside him throughout and also held organisational responsibilities in the BJSAC. The DGP said Danamma was arrested in Nagpur in 2004, spent seven years in jail and later rejoined the party after securing bail.After the surrender, Narahari told media personnel that the movement had suffered heavy losses, forcing them to surrender. “Across Dandakaranya, Jharkhand, Telangana and other areas, the party suffered losses, and it appeared difficult to continue the armed struggle. Looking at the Telangana govt’s Maoist rehabilitation programme, we decided to join the mainstream here. We took permission from Maoist party politburo member Misir Besra to surrender before the Telangana govt and he approved,” Narahari said.With the latest surrenders, Anand said only 47 Maoist underground (UG) cadres are currently active in the country. According to him, among the remaining UG cadres, 15 are from Chhattisgarh, 13 from Jharkhand, 15 from Odisha, three from Telangana and one from Andhra Pradesh.Anand said 826 Maoists had surrendered in Telangana since 2024 and laid down 334 weapons. He appealed to the three remaining Telangana UG cadres — Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapathi, former general secretary of the Maoist party; his wife, Jode Ratna Bai; and Vartha Sekhar alias Manthu, head of the communication wing in Dandakaranya — to surrender and join the mainstream.Anand said the state is planning a skilling centre to help surrendered cadres build livelihoods, and that police searches for arms dumps would continue.