Overview
- The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed habeas corpus petitions for CPI (Maoist) leaders Thippiri Tirupati alias Devji and Malla Raji Reddy, noting no prima facie proof of police custody and allowing refiling if new evidence surfaces.
- In Hyderabad, 37 underground cadres, including three state committee members, surrendered to the Telangana DGP, handed over eight firearms and 346 rounds, and were issued rehabilitation payments totaling about ₹1.41 crore.
- Andhra Pradesh police said roughly 50 Maoists were arrested across five districts after this week’s operations, including nine from Devji’s protection team, and that all detainees were produced before magistrates.
- CPI (Maoist) and civil liberties groups allege that Madvi Hidma and others were captured earlier and killed in a staged encounter, and they have demanded an independent investigation.
- Police maintain that Hidma and his wife were killed in exchanges of fire in Maredumilli and assert that the arrests and surrenders reflect the organisation’s weakening.