Telangana | Senior Maoist leader Sujatha surrenders after 43 years underground

Pothula Padmavathi, also known as Kalpana, Mynakka, Mainabai and Sujatha, a senior-most underground leader of the banned CPI (Maoist), surrendered before the Director General of Police, Telangana, on Saturday (September 13, 2025) after remaining underground for 43 years.

She was a Central Committee Member (CCM), Secretariat Member, South Sub-Zonal Bureau Secretary and in-charge of Janathana Sarkar, the Maoists’ parallel governance system under the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee.

Aged 62, Padmavathi hails from Penchikalpadu village in Gattu mandal, Jogulamba Gadwal district. Her father, Thimma Reddy, an agriculturist and village postmaster, died in 1983. Her mother, Venkamma, is a homemaker. She has three brothers and one sister; her brothers continue farming in their native village. Her elder brother briefly worked with the CPI (ML) People’s War Group in 1982.

She was married to senior Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishanji, who served as Central Committee Member and Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee. Kishanji was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in West Midnapore, West Bengal, on November 24, 2011. The couple have one daughter.

Padmavathi entered the movement in December 1982 while studying Intermediate second year at Government Junior College, Gadwal. Influenced by her cousins Patel Sudhakar Reddy, Pothula Sudershan Reddy and Suguna, she first worked as a village campaigner and later joined Jana Natya Mandali, briefly working with Gaddar and Mala Sanjeev. After leaving the cultural wing, she worked at Peace Book Centre, Koti, Hyderabad, where she met Kishanji, whom she married in 1984.

In 1987, she and Kishanji were moved to the Dandakaranya Forest Committee in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, leaving their daughter in the care of a trusted activist. She rose through various ranks over the years: Deputy Commander of Etapalli Dalam in 1988, Commander of Devuri Dalam in 1996, Divisional Committee Member and later Secretary of Basaguda Area Committee between 1997 and 1999, and State Committee Member in 2001. She was inducted into the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee and given charge of South Bastar divisions and frontal organisations.

In 2007, she attended the CPI (Maoist) Congress in Maad and was promoted to Secretariat Member of DKSZC, later overseeing Janathana Sarkar. By 2018, she was in charge of Janathana Sarkar across the Dandakaranya zone, and in 2022, she was appointed Secretary of the South Sub-Zonal Bureau. In 2023, she was elevated to the Central Committee. She also edited ‘Pethuri’, a Koya-language magazine published thrice a year.

In May 2025, citing deteriorating health, Padmavathi requested to leave the organisation and communicated her decision to the Central Committee through senior Maoist leader Pulluri Prasada Rao. She expressed her wish to live peacefully with her family and avail rehabilitation benefits.

She carried a reward of ₹25 lakh, which has now been given to her through a demand draft. The Telangana Government will extend further rehabilitation measures in line with its policy for surrendered cadres.

The Director General of Police Jitender called her surrender a moral victory for Telangana’s comprehensive policy against the CPI (Maoist).

So far in 2025, 404 underground cadres have surrendered before the police, including four State Committee Members, one Divisional Committee Secretary, eight Divisional Committee Members and 34 Area Committee Members. Of the 15 Central Committee Members of CPI (Maoist), ten are natives of Telangana.

The DGP appealed to remaining underground cadres to return to their native places and join the mainstream, assuring them of immediate relief and support measures under the rehabilitation scheme to live with dignity and independence.