SAA event in Telangana, Achampet, Nagarkurnool District area, India on Sat 24th January 2026

Police arrested two leaders of the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and three individuals associated with Maoist frontal organisations and rights bodies during raids in Achampet, Nagarkurnool District of Telangana, on January 24, reports Deccan Chronicle. The arrested Maoists were identified as Misala Salman alias Santosh Nagaraju, a member of the Maoists’ Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and a ‘commander’ of the military instructor team, and his wife, Sambatti, a Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion, Company-II, Platoon-II. The other three arrested persons, affiliated with Maoist front organisations and accused of assisting the outfit and providing shelter in the Mahbubnagar and Nallamala regions, were identified as Edla Ambayya, co-convener of the Telangana Praja Front; Jakka Balayya, joint secretary of the Civil Liberties Committee; and Manshetti Yadaiya. Police said the arrests were made while the group was travelling in a car from Mannanur to Achampet. Security forces seized INR 150,000 in cash, five gelatin sticks, 10 AK-47 bullets, and 10 live rounds from their possession. Salman, a native of Pamidipadu in Bollapalli Mandal (administrative sub division) of Guntur District, had joined the Maoists in 1994 through the Bollapalli squad operating in the Nallamala region. Police said he worked directly under the Central Military Commission (CMC) and, acting on the instructions of Tippari Tirupati alias Devji and Madvi Hidma, who was later killed in an encounter, travelled to several Maoist-affected states to provide guerrilla warfare training to cadres.