Top Maoist leader Chelluri Narayana Rao addressed the media in Vijayawada on Monday as DGP Harish Kumar Gupta looked on. | Photo credit: GN RAO
CPI-Maoist Central Committee (CCM) member Chelluri Narayana Rao alias Suresh, who surrendered before Andhra Pradesh DGP Harish Kumar Gupta on Monday, regretted the violence he had committed.
Senior Maoist leader Chelluri Narayana Rao addressed the media in Vijayawada on Monday. | Photo credit: GN Rao
“I am definitely sorry for the killing and I admit the mistakes,” Mr Narayana Rao, who was also the secretary of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), told The Hindu after surrendering before the police.
Narayana Rao, a native of Pedavanka village in Vajrap Kothuru mandal of Srirakulam district, joined the then People’s War Group (PWG) as a dalam member.
He was promoted as Area Committee Member (ACM) and Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) and transferred to the State Military Commission as a member. In 2024, he was promoted as a CCM party and served as the secretary of AOBSZC.
Narayana Rao was involved in the killing of MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Someswara Rao in 2018. He was also part of the team that killed CI Muddada Gandhi and three other police constables in court in 2001.
He was involved in several ambushes in Koraput, Kuneru railway station, Neelabhadra and other areas in which several policemen were killed.
“According to party ideology and instructions from my senior cadre, I killed police personnel. But I regret those killings,” said Mr. Narayana Rao.
He said that the social security programs introduced by the government have brought many changes in the tribal areas in terms of development.
“The movement of 40 years (Maoist movement) lost public support because the ideology failed to keep up with the times, leading to its downfall across the country,” said Mr. Narayana Rao, who was associated with the CPI-Maoist party for 36 years.
“There have been many changes in the Maoist party in the last few years. There is no public support and there has been no recruitment. I have decided to join the mainstream,” he said.
Published – 30 March 2026 19:37 IST
