Hyderabad: A senior functionary of the banned CPI (Maoist) Party, Manda Ruben alias Kannanna, surrendered to police in Warangal district of Telangana on Tuesday, officials said.
Ruben (67), who served as Division Committee Secretary of the South Bastar Division and was a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, surrendered before Warangal Police Commissioner Sunpreet Singh.
A native of Vangapadu village, Hanamkonda district, Ruben expressed his desire to lead a peaceful life with his family under the Telangana government’s Rehabilitation and Resettlement Programme, the commissioner said.
Ruben was drawn to radical ideology in 1979 while working in the hostel mess of REC (now NIT Warangal). Influenced by then CPI (Maoist) General Secretary and former REC student Nambala Keshav Rao, he joined the banned organisation and went underground, a press release said.
From 1981 to 1986, he served as a member of the Kunta-Bastar squad under Lankapapireddy’s command. In 1987, he was elevated to Area Committee Member. In 1991, while travelling for medical treatment, he was arrested by Chhattisgarh police at Kothagudem and imprisoned in Jagdalpur Jail. A year later, he escaped along with three others and rejoined Maoist activities.
Later, while serving as a Division Committee Member in 2005, Ruben became inactive due to ill health and stayed with his family in Gundraayi village, the release said.
Though managing poultry and sheep farms, he continued to provide shelter, food, and intelligence to Maoist cadres, it further said.
Citing deteriorating health, lack of physical strength to continue underground life, waning ideological relevance of Maoism, and increasing public resentment against Maoist violence, Ruben decided to surrender, it added.
