Bhubaneswar/Vijaywada, Jul 27: In a significant breakthrough for counter-insurgency efforts, a senior Maoist couple surrendered before Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta in Vijayawada on Saturday.

The duo — Jorige Nagaraju alias Kamalesh and his wife Medaka Jyoteeswari alias Aruna — had been active in the banned CPI (Maoist) for over three decades.

Kamalesh served as a Special Zonal Committee Member (SZCM) and was in charge of the East Bastar Divisional Committee, while Aruna held the position of Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) and led the Mobile Academic Political Organisation School (MAPOS). Their surrender marks a major operational gain for security forces combating Left-Wing Extremism in the region.

Authorities had declared a bounty of ₹25 lakh on Kamalesh in Chhattisgarh and ₹20 lakh in Andhra Pradesh. Aruna carried a reward of ₹5 lakh. The couple cited ideological disillusionment, internal rifts, and lack of public support as reasons for abandoning the movement. They handed over a cache of arms and were provided ₹20,000 each as immediate relief under the state’s rehabilitation policy.

In a parallel operation, Andhra Pradesh police unearthed three Maoist arms dumps in the forests of Alluri Sitarama Raju district between July 23 and 25. The recovered cache included AK-47s, grenade launchers, SLRs, INSAS rifles, and hundreds of live rounds, along with tactical equipment.

These developments signal a tightening security grip across Maoist-affected corridors in central and eastern India.

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