Senior Maoist leader C Narayana Rao surrenders, AOB area nearly cleared of top Naxal leadership

Hyderabad: Senior Maoist leader Chelluri Narayana Rao, alias Suresh, a Central Committee Member (CCM) and Secretary of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) surrendered before Andhra Pradesh DGP Harish Kumar Gupta on Monday, along with eight other cadres, including members of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA).

A native of Vajrapu Kothuru in Srikakulam, Narayana Rao spent approximately 36 years in the CPI (Maoist) organisation across various ranks. He is believed to have masterminded the 2018 killings of then TDP MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Someswara Rao. He also participated in several ambushes and armed raids including those at Neelabhadra, Koraput, Kuneru Railway Station, and Nayagarh in which multiple police personnel were killed and thousands of weapons looted. He was further involved in numerous exchanges of fire across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.

DGP Harish Kumar Gupta highlighted the significant gains made by Andhra Pradesh Police in the Left Wing Extremism domain over the past year. In seven exchanges of fire, 18 Maoist cadres were neutralised, among them three Central Committee Members Madavi Hiduma, Gajarla Ravi, and Metturi Jogarao alias Tech Sankar along with three Special Zonal Committee Members. In addition, AP Police assisted their counterparts in Chhattisgarh and Odisha in several operations, resulting in the neutralisation of two more Central Committee Members and numerous other senior cadres.

On the intelligence and interdiction front, AP Police foiled Maoist plans to carry out sensational offences in the Krishna, Eluru, NTR, Kakinada, and Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema districts, arresting 50 underground cadres 28 in Krishna, 15 in Eluru, 4 in NTR, 2 in Kakinada, and 1 in Konaseema and seizing arms and ammunition. A further 31 cadres, including three action team members, were arrested separately, while 106 others among them one Central Committee Member and two Special Zonal Committee Members surrendered before AP Police. Several armed ammunition dumps of CPI (Maoist) were also unearthed during this period.

Over the past year, security forces operating in coordination with their Chhattisgarh counterparts have achieved near-total success in dismantling the top Naxal leadership along the Andhra–Odisha Border (AOB), long considered a sanctuary for the ultras. The eliminations of Hidma and Tech Sankar were seen by Andhra security forces as a decisive turning point in this sustained campaign.

In May 2025, during an exchange of fire in the forested terrain between Y Ramavaram and Addateegala in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, security forces killed Kakuri Pandanna alias Jagan a key AOBSZC operative along with another senior cadre, dealing a major blow to Maoist consolidation efforts along the AOB axis. A month later, a gun battle in the Devipatnam forest area resulted in the deaths of Central Committee Member Gajarla Ravi alias Uday and senior woman leader Aruna of the AOB Special Zonal Committee.

Monday's surrender of Narayana Rao further consolidates what security forces describe as a near-complete clearance of senior Naxal presence from the region.