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Pothula Padmavathi, a senior leader from the outlawed CPI (Maoist) party surrendered before the Telangana police on Saturday, September 13, after remaining underground for 43 years.
Padmavathi – who 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 – surrendered before Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Jitender. She carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh. The police have given this price reward to her through a Demand Draft.
Padmavathi was also known as Kalpana, Mynakka, Mainabai, and Sujatha. The 62-year-old Maoist leader is the wife of senior Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishanji, who served as CCM and Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee. Kishanji was killed in an alleged encounter with security forces in 2011. The couple have one daughter.
Padmavathi hails from Penchikalpadu village in Gattu mandal, Jogulamba Gadwal district. She joined the CPI(ML) People’s War Group in 1982, influenced by her cousin and senior Maoist Patel Sudhakar Reddy, while studying at Gadwal's government junior college.
DGP Jitender said that Padmavathi’s surrender comes in the backdrop of 404 underground cadres, including senior leaders, giving up arms in Telangana in 2025. A total of 32 Maoists have been killed in exchanges of fire in the state in the past two years.