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Senior Maoist leader with Rs 20 lakh bounty surrenders
Kakarala Samatha, a 60-year-old senior CPI (Maoist) member, surrendered to Telangana DGP CV Anand late Monday. She carried a Rs 20 lakh bounty and is the wife of slain leader Patel Sudhakar…
The Story in Brief
Kakarala Samatha, a 60-year-old senior CPI (Maoist) member, surrendered to Telangana DGP CV Anand late Monday. She carried a Rs 20 lakh bounty and is the wife of slain leader Patel Sudhakar Reddy. DGP Anand said she would receive the reward amount. Samatha served in the core team of former party general secretary Ganapathy from 2009 to 2015. Her elder sister Sunitha gave up arms in August 2025. Only three Maoist leaders from Telangana remain underground: Ganapathy, Sujatha and Mangthu, the DGP said.
Separately, former Maoist leader Devji and others have urged the DGP to allow them unrestricted political activity and lift the party ban, Times of India reported. The request was made on August 10.
The Indian Opinion
The DGP's claim that the Maoist movement is 'wiped out completely' sits uneasily with the demand from former leaders for political space. After decades of armed struggle, their desire to contest elections is not surrender of ideology but a tactical shift. The state must decide whether to engage with them legally, as it does with other banned outfits that have entered the political mainstream. Will the government allow CPI (Maoist) sympathisers to field candidates in the next assembly elections?
Sources (3): hindustantimes.com, hindustantimes.com (2), timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
