AP: Man behind Maoists' rockets surrenders

Srinivas Reddy alias 'Tech' Madhu, wanted in the case involving seizure of large number of rocket launchers and shells in the state two months ago, turned himself in on Saturday.

Madhu (34), who allegedly supplied rocket launchers to Maoists, surrendered along with his wife Sudharani alias Vasantha, before the Warangal Range Deputy Inspector General Ravi Gupta and District Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra.      

The Maoist couple was produced before media persons at Warangal, about 160 km from Hyderabad, ending media speculation that he had surrendered to police last month only.

Madhu's name surfaced after seizure of a huge haul of 875 rocket shells and launchers by Andhra Pradesh police in September this year.

Addressing a press conference at Warangal, Mishra said Madhu, who joined the movement in 1991, was assigned by party leaders to manufacture rockets for targeting police. The naxals had formed a technical team to design rockets and rocket launchers in 2002 and this job was assigned to Madhu who had just completed a diploma in Pro-E-Engineering

at Ambatthur in Chennai, she said.

Madhu went to Chennai in 2003 and two projects were planned -- 'Rocket Launchers-I' and 'Rocket Launchers-II' -- Gupta said. While project-I was a pilot project designed to manufacture rockets with a launch pad, project-II was a project for development of shoulder-mounted rocket launchers and rocket, he added.

Mishra said Madhu, a native of Warangal district, had received about Rs 35 lakh from the Maoists for manufacturing of rockets and launchers. Later, he manufactured 1,600 rockets and 40 launchers. Of them, Madhu dispatched 1,550 rockets and 40 launchers from Chennai to Vijayawada to send them to various locations through a transport company, she said.

However, the state police successfully seized the consignments in Mahabubnagar and Prakasam districts in September this year before it could reach the Maoists, Mishra said. Madhu and his wife Sudharani, who is also a member of the technical team, escaped from Chennai ever since Andhra Pradesh police seized the consignments, Mishra added