Disillusioned Top Maoist leader Jalandhar With Rs 20 Lakh Reward, Surrenders Before AP Police

MANGALAGIRI: Muttanagari Jalandhar Reddy a top leader of the CPI (Maoist),  surrendered before the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang on Tuesday. Jalandhar was involved in many criminal cases and carried a Rs 20 lakh reward on his head.

While addressing the media at the police headquarters in Mangalagiri, Jalandhar stated that he was disillusioned with  Maoist ideology which was now obsolete and also due to the lack of public support and lack of recruitment from local Adivasis, he said. He said that the Maoist movement was facing an unprecedented crisis. He said the party was divided over its activities and decisions under these circumstances. Field level conditions and his health condition were also not permitting him to continue in the movement.

The DGP said that  Jalandhar who originally hailed from Siddipet in neighbouring Telangana went by many aliases like Maranna, Krishna, Karuna and Sarath.

A member of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee and a division secretary he is said to have led the second assault team (of Maoists) in the Balimela ambush on June 29, 2008, in which 38 commandos of the elite Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh Police were killed.

Apart from that, he was involved in five other important ambushes, 19 exchanges of fire against security forces and seven murders in the AOB area.

He also played the lead role in the kidnapping of IAS officer Vineel Krishna, the then Collector of Malkangiri district ( Odisha) in February 2011.

He actively participated in raids on District Armoury at Koraput (2004), Srisailam and Sunnipenta police stations in Kurnool district, Yerragondapalem police station in Prakasam district and several other offences in the AOB area.

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Jalandhar is the last of the three sons of the retired VRO Balakrishna Reddy and Sulochana. They have more than 50 acres of land. While studying at Siddipet Government Degree College, he became fascinated with the movement and joined the Radical Student Union in 1998 and rose to the rank of a member of the Maoist Party Special Zone Committee. The 21-year-old had played a key role in the movement. He joined the Giraipally Dalam in February 2000 as a member of the CPI (ML) People's War Party. From September 2000 to August 2002, he served in the South Telangana Special Guerrilla Squad and Andhra Pradesh platoon in the Nallamala region. In September 2002, he was promoted to Area Committee Member.

The extensive police out-reach programmes and government welfare and development programmes in interior tribal areas, distancing tribals from the Maoists and attractive surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government were the other factors for the Maoist leaders to surrender, Sawang added. As per the government policy, Krishna would be given the reward amount of Rs 20 lakh, besides a house site. "If required, agricultural land or support for taking up self-employment will be provided to Jalandhar Reddy," he added.

The DGP appealed to the Maoists to give themselves up voluntarily and join the mainstream. He assured that the Government would help join the mainstream society, give the reward amount on their head to the and provide employment opportunities so that they could live normal lives.

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