Pothula Padmavathi, known as Sujatha, surrendered to Telangana Police in Hyderabad after spending 43 years underground as a senior leader of the CPI (Maoist).
Sujatha was a Central Committee member and the wife of the late Maoist commander Kishenji, who was killed in 2011 during a security operation in West Bengal.
Sujatha was among the first generation of Maoist revolutionaries who ventured into Dandakaranya to establish guerrilla zones. Her ideological journey was shaped by her cousin, Patel Sudhakar Reddy, another prominent Maoist leader who died in 2009.
Carrying a bounty of ₹1 crore, Sujatha was considered one of the most influential and elusive figures in the Maoist movement. Her surrender is seen as a major breakthrough for law enforcement and a symbolic shift in the decades-long insurgency.
She also collaborated with the late revolutionary poet and activist Gaddar, further cementing her role in the cultural and political dimensions of the movement.
