Telangana: Top Maoist leader Devji surrendered
Top Maoist commander and the organisation’s key “strategist”, Thippiri Tirupati alias Devji, has surrendered, a top police official said on Sunday. He carried a reward of Rs 1 crore. Devji hails from Telangana’s Jagtial district, and his surrender can be seen as a deadly blow to the outlawed organisation, which now lacks leadership.
Devji (62) is believed to have succeeded the late CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, who died in May 2025. Another senior Maoist leader, Malla Raji Reddy, along with several cadres of the CPI (Maoist), has also surrendered.
Their surrender comes days before the Union Government’s March 2026 deadline to eliminate Naxalism in the country.
According to reports, Devji, carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head, created the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and went on to become a key Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist) and a politburo member of the Maoist party.
Devji, presently working as the person in charge of the Central Military Commission (CMC), operated from Maad in Chhattisgarh. In 1982, while studying Intermediate in Korutla in Jagtial District, he was attracted towards the Radical Student Union (RSU), sources said.
During the same period, clashes occurred between RSU and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members in Karimnagar district, and Devji was named as an accused in the case, they said. In 1983, Devji joined CPI ML (PWG) and went underground.
During 1983-1984, he worked as a Dalam member in Gadchiroli Dalam, and in 1985, he was elevated to area committee member. He was then elevated as a central committee member in 2001 and was in charge of CMC in 2016, the sources added.
One of the influential strategists in the proscribed organisation — Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Sonu, a native of Telangana, who surrendered to police along with 60 other cadres in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district in October 2025 — had called for “temporarily renouncing armed struggle” and said they were ready for a ceasefire. His stand was met with resistance from other senior cadres, with Devji and other leaders “appearing to favour continuing the armed struggle”.
The “division” in outlook between the two sections within the Maoists is “very clear” in view of the statements coming out, the sources had then said.
Security forces led by the CRPF had launched an extensive operation named ‘KGH 2’ spread across areas like Nambi and Korgotalu Hills (KGH), also known as Karregutta Hills, along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border on February 17.
About 300 Naxals, including the top four central committee (CC) members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including Misir Besra alias Bhaskar, Devji, Rammanna alias Ganpathi alias Laxman Rao and Raji Reddy, are the last among those whom the security forces were looking for, officials earlier said.
