Maoist leader Ruben surrenders in Warangal
The commissioner said Ruben chose to surrender due to failing health, lack of physical strength to continue underground life and disillusionment with the ideology he once upheld. “He realised Maoist violence has lost relevance and that public anger against it is growing. He now wishes to live peacefully with his family,” Singh said. Ruben will be covered under the Telangana Government’s Rehabilitation and Resettlement Programme.
A native of Vangapahad in Hanamkonda district, Ruben’s association with radical thought began in 1979 while working at the mess of the then Regional Engineering College (now NIT-Warangal). He came under the influence of Maoist general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao, who was recently killed in an encounter, and went underground in 1981.
Police said Ruben was involved in several major attacks, including the 1988 ambush on a police convoy along the Gollapalli–Maraiguda route that killed 20 CRPF personnel and led to the looting of weapons. He was also accused in the 1990 Turlapadu police station attack and in multiple killings of villagers and a sarpanch across different villages.
Ruben worked with the Kunta and Bastar squads for several years. He was arrested in 1991 by Chhattisgarh police while undergoing medical treatment, but made a sensational escape from Jagdalpur Jail in 1992 along with three others. He rejoined the movement soon after and married a local woman, Podium Bhime, in 1999.
Health issues gradually reduced his involvement after 2005, but police said he continued assisting Maoist cadres by providing shelter, food and information on police movements. “Despite age and illness, he remained loyal to the organisation until now,” Singh said. “His surrender is a sign that the Maoist movement is weakening across the region.”
