31 Maoists, including top leaders, held in Vijayawada; 27 arrested from four-storey building

Vijayawada: A major Maoist-related operation unfolded in Vijayawada on Tuesday, after central security forces launched extensive searches in Kannur Kotha Autonagar, following credible intelligence inputs.

A total of 31 Maoists from Chhattisgarh, including top leaders, were arrested, prompting a larger crackdown across the area. Among them, 27 Maoists were arrested from a four-storey building at New Autonagar in Kanuru neighbourhood in Vijayawada.

The searches are said to be linked to Tuesday’s operation by security forces in the forests of Alluri Sitharamaraju district in the Andhra-Odisha border area, in which six Maoists, including top commander and CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Hidma and his wife Raji, were killed.

Safe house revealed

According to Additional Director General (Intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha, a total of 31 Maoists were arrested from Krishna district, Vijayawada and Kakinada, the searches were ordered after information surfaced that Maoists were using a building in the locality as a safe house.

During the operation, officers reportedly detained 31 individuals suspected to be Maoists, including 12 women and several key cadre members. Authorities believe the group also includes sympathisers and militia members. Police have further received inputs about Maoist dumps at four locations and have initiated efforts to recover them.

Posed as daily wage workers

The arrested took shelter in the building posing as labourers looking for daily-wage work and had claimed they would be staying on rent. Octopus and Greyhounds units, assisted by the local police, have since taken control of the area and intensified search operations. Investigators have questioned the building’s watchman and are probing the role of the owner, who is currently abroad and has been out of the country for over six weeks.

Multi-location operations were simultaneously conducted across five districts as part of anti-Maoist measures.

“We received information that Maoists had taken shelter in the Kanuru area of Autonagar. All of them have been detained. Most are from Chhattisgarh. We have apprehended members of the Maoist Central Committee secretary Thippiri Tirupati’s team. Details of the arrested cadre will be disclosed tomorrow,” the Krishna district SP Vidyasagar Naidu said.