Maoist commander Deva surrenders before Telangana police

HYDERABAD: People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army battalion commander from Chhattisgarh, Badse Deva alias Sukka, who was a close aide of slain top Maoist Madvi Hidma, surrendered before Telangana police along with several associates. Top police officers said a formal announcement about the surrender was likely on Saturday.Deva, 48, hailed from Hidma’s native place Puvvarthi in Sukma district and carried rewards of Rs 25 lakh in Telangana and Rs 50 lakh in Chhattisgarh. Officers described him as one of the most battle-hardened guerrilla commanders in the Dandakaranya region.Sources said the group slipped into Telangana forests in Oct 2025 and operated along with the state committee, headed by senior Maoist Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar. A sustained combing operation by Telangana’s elite Greyhounds force and intelligence officials restricted their movement, and constant appeals from top police officers prompted Deva’s surrender.He joined the Maoist movement in 2000. Till 2003, he worked in Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangh in Puvvarthi, Chhattisgarh. In Dec 2022, he became Dandakaranya special zonal committee member, and was appointed as PLGA’s battalion commander in June 2023.Deva’s 25-year tryst with CPI (Maoists) was linked to some of the deadliest strikes in central India. Police dossiers attributed to him the 2013 Jhiram Ghati massacre that killed 27 Congress leaders in Bastar, the April 2021 Tekulagudem ambush in Bijapur that left 22 police personnel dead, and at least five major IED attacks between 2006 and 2019, including the blast that killed BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi. Investigators believed he personally led the Jan 16 Dharmaram base attack in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in Telangana in 2025 and the Jan 30 strike on a CRPF camp at Jeeramguda, Chhattisgarh.Deva studied up to Class 10. Rising swiftly through local squads and area committees, he became Darbha division secretary in 2018 and a state-level committee member in 2022. He used to carry an Ak-47 and was fluent in Koya, Telugu and Hindi languages.