Pothula Padmavathi, also known as Kalpana, Mynakka, Mainabai and Sujatha, a senior-most underground leader of the banned CPI (Maoist), surrendered before the Director General of Police, Telangana, on Saturday (September 13, 2025) after remaining underground for 43 years.
She was a Central Committee Member (CCM), Secretariat Member, South Sub-Zonal Bureau Secretary and in-charge of Janathana Sarkar, the Maoists’ parallel governance system under the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee.
Aged 62, Padmavathi hails from Penchikalpadu village in Gattu mandal, Jogulamba Gadwal district. Her father, Thimma Reddy, an agriculturist and village postmaster, died in 1983. Her mother, Venkamma, is a homemaker. She has three brothers and one sister; her brothers continue farming in their native village. Her elder brother briefly worked with the CPI (ML) People’s War Group in 1982.
She was married to senior Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishanji, who served as Central Committee Member and Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee. Kishanji was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in West Midnapore, West Bengal, on November 24, 2011. The couple have one daughter.
