26-year-old Maoist leader surrenders to Visakhapatnam Police

A senior Maoist leader, going by the name Swetha surrendered to the Visakhapatnam Police (Rural) on Saturday. The 26-year-old woman, whose original name is Korra Kumari, was carrying a cash reward of Rs. 4 lakh on her head when she decided to surrender. She was carrying a SLR rifle during the time of the surrender. 

Hailing from Mettaguda village in GK Veedhi Mandal, Visakhapatnam Agency, she had joined the Maoist movement when she was around 15 years old. She was the niece of Maoist leader Gemmili Jambri, who was killed in 2017 in a skirmish between Maoist fighters and police. Over the years, she rose through the ranks to become Area Committee Member (ACM) of CPI (Marxist) in Pedabayalu.

This Maoist leader is known notoriously around Visakhapatnam for the recent murders of Gemmili Krishna Rao at Vakapalli and Chikkudu Satish in Inupateegalu. Reportedly, she left the Maoist movement and surrendered due to various reasons, like ill-health, fear of death or arrest.

In a press briefing, Superintendent of Police, Visakhapatnam (Rural), Boddepalli Krishna Rao IPS shared that Swetha had more than 46 offences on her record, including murders, bomb blasts, cases of arson and kidnappings.  

During the press conference, Swetha revealed that Maoist leadership had become tumultuous due to the recent emergence of non-tribals like Aruna to power. Ever since then, Maoist leaders in Visakhapatnam have been unable to get proper healthcare and many exchange-of-fires also took place where Maoist leaders who were known to her died. 

According to SP Krishna Rao, there have been close to 29 Maoist surrenders in the last 2 years in the district while 30 others have been arrested by the Visakhapatnam Police.