New Delhi: In a major blow to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), one of its senior-most leaders, Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, has surrendered before the Maharashtra Police, ThePrint has learnt. Sonu, who also goes by the alias Abhay, is a member of the Maoists’ top decision-making body Central Committee. He laid down the arms along with several dozen cadres in the Gadhchiroli district of the state.
The development comes weeks after inputs about difference among various Maoist factions came to light after a 15 August letter, signed purportedly by Sonu and proposing a unilateral ceasefire with security forces, surfaced last month.
In the letter, Sonu, in his capacity as the spokesperson of the Central Committee, had announced a temporary ceasefire from the armed struggle, expressing willingness to engage in peace talks with the government following unprecedented setbacks to its organisational strength after its senior leadership was killed in encounters. The letter and its content were rebutted quickly by the other state-level committee of the CPI (Maoist).
Maharashtra Police officers remain tight-lipped about the when and how of the Sonu’s surrender, but sources directly involved in the process confirmed to ThePrint about his surrender.
ThePrint reached Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla, seeking confirmation of the development. The report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Along with Sonu, several members of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the last remaining Maoist stronghold between Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and the Bastar region in Chhattisgarh, also surrendered their weapons.
Abhay’s wife, Tarakka Sidam, a DKSZC member, had also surrendered in Gadchiroli early this year.
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Maoist life comes full circle for Sonu
Sonu, as ThePrint earlier reported, was one of the top two contenders for the post of general secretary of the Maoist outfit after security forces killed previous general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavraju, in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Abujmarh.
Belonging to Karimnagar district of Telangana, Sonu was also one of the most educated and technologically competent among the contenders for the top post. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from SRR College and an ITI diploma.
According to the latest police records, Sonu has a total of 26 cases registered against him in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
His surrender in Gadchiroli marks his life as a Maoist cadre coming to a full circle, as he was first transferred to Gadchiroli as a commander in 1984. He was soon promoted to the divisional committee member (DCM) post in 1986, followed by elevation to divisional committee secretary (DCS) in 1987.
Years later, he was inducted into the central committee of the outfit in 2000, but not before playing a key role in the merger of the People’s War Group with CPI-ML (Party Unity) of Bihar in 1998.
In 2004, he was further promoted as a member of the Politburo of the banned outfit during a congressional gathering in Abujmarh.
As per the latest police records, accessed by ThePrint, Sonu could walk only with the help of others and also has slightly impaired vision. However, he always keeps a laptop alongside him.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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