"Did not surrender because of encounters...looked at the situation after being caught": Former CPI (Maoist) leader Deva

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], January 7 : Former commander of CPI (Maoist) Badse Sukka, alias Deva, has said that he did not surrender before police due to news of "encounters or surrender" of Naxals in action by security forces but because the police caught him and brought him to the state capital.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Deva also said that he had surrendered seeing the "present situation".
Deva's surrender to Telangana Police last week caused a massive blow to the outlawed organization.He carried a reward of Rs 75 lakh and was battalion commander of outlawed People's Liberation Guerrilla Army Battalion (PLGA) of CPI (Maoist). He was considered the second most important tribal leader in CPI (Maoist) and surrendered to police on January 3. Nineteen more CPI (Maoist) cadre had surrendered to Telangana Police on the same day.
Deva is contemporary of Madvi Hidma, the top CPI (Maoist) leader who was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh in November last year. He said Hidma and he worked in different divisions of CPI (Maoist) and worked together for the last one-and-a-half years after he was given responsibility of battalion commander.
Answering a query about his surrender, Deva said he was going for some task when police stopped his vehicle, checked it, caught him and brought him to Hyderabad.
Deva said he "did come to surrender but decided it after being caught". He also said he was carrying some cash.
The Naxal leader said there was mention of an arms dump in his diary which helped police recover more weapons. He also mentioned that some of the arms had been looted from police.
"The police stopped and checked me. After checking they brought me here and after that I decided to surrender... I have some weapons here... which are my own. I had seven AK-47s, INSAS rifle and SLR, the rest of the weapons were found in a dump... I have worked with Hidma in different divisions... I have worked with him for a year and a half... I did not surrender after seeing encounters or surrenders. They caught me and after that I made this decision," Deva told ANI.
Telangana DGP Shivadhar Reddy had said on January 3 that surrender of top Maoist leaders and large number weapons had considerably weakened CPI (Maoist) in the region.
He said twenty CPI Maoist cadres have surrendered including "PLGA battalion commander Deva".
"They also brought a large number of weapons, precisely 48 weapons. These are very high-quality weapons. The weapons include AK-47s, LMGs, SLRs, INSAS rifles, and an Israeli-made Tavor CQB," he said.
The top police official said that there is a lot of internal conflict within CPI (Maoist).
"They are also facing health problems. The pressure from the security forces is so immense that they are unable to move from one place to another. Earlier, they used to move around very easily, but now that has completely stopped. Their movement has been completely restricted due to the presence and operations of the security forces. That is why they have now decided to come out and surrender. They had looted all the weapons from the police except for one. We need to find out how they acquired that one weapon, the CQB weapon. But all the other weapons were looted from the police," he said.
According to Telangana Police, Deva was influenced by Madvi and "he joined CPI ML PWG in 2003". Both Deva and Hidma hailed from Puvvarthi.
The officials said Deva followed late Hidma and become expert "in military strategies, procurement of explosives, manufacturing firearms, IEDs etc"
"When Hidma got promotion and left PLGA Btn in November 2023, he selected Deva as his successor and deputed him as PLGA Battallion commander," the police said.
The Police said Deva has been ruthless in his tactics and is linked to several ambushes and raids like Jheram Ghati in Chhattigarh in which Congress leaders were killed.
Police said that the surrendered Maoist cadres told them that the CPI (Maoist) leadership has been arbitrarily deploying cadres to unfamiliar and distant areas without their consent, often to regions "where they lack basic geographical knowledge and local support including PLGA" which has resulted in serious mobility constraints and acute logistical difficulties, including shortages of essential day-to-day necessities. Such conditions have caused growing frustration and hardship among the cadres.
Sustained pressure from security forces has also forced CPI (Maoist) cadre to surrender in large numbers.