Top Maoist Leaders Surrender Before Telangana Police

In a significant development under the Union government's Operation Kagar, senior Maoist leaders Dev Ji alias Tippiri Tirupati and Malla Rajireddy, along with 16 other Maoists, surrendered before the Telangana Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) in the Asifabad forests today.

Dev Ji is a member of the Central Committee of the Maoist party and is currently serving as its General Secretary. After Nambala Kesava Rao was killed in an encounter last year, Dev Ji was reportedly appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in September 2025. As part of Operation Kagar 2, recently launched to target Dev Ji and Rajireddy, both leaders surrendered along with others.

The officials said that they would be presented before the media in two days.

Dev Ji hails from Korutla town in Ambedkar Nagar of Jagtial district. He joined the Maoist movement in 1983 and gradually rose through the ranks, serving as the South India Zone in-charge. He is a senior member of the Central Military Commission, and the police believe that he was the mastermind behind the April 2010 Maoist attack in Dantewada, in which 74 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed.

Within the party he is known by several aliases, including Sanjeev, Chetan, Ramesh, Sudarshan and Devanna. He also edits the party's underground military publication, Awami Jung. His name figures on the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) most-wanted list.