CPI (Maoist) central committee member, 2 others gunned down

VISHAKHAPATNAM/NEW DELHI: Senior Maoist leader Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, member of CPI(Maoist) central committee (CC), was killed by Andhra Pradesh police on Wednesday in an encounter in Alluri Sitarama Raju district of the state.

With his neutralisation, the total strength of the CC has shrunk further to 13, including the four remaining politburo members.Two other senior Naxal leaders, state zonal committee member Ravi Venka Chaitanya alias Aruna and area committee member Anju, were also eliminated along with Ravi. Aruna is wife of another slain central committee member Ramachandra Reddy Pratap Reddy alias Chalapathi, who was killed by the anti-Naxal forces in Chhattisgarh in January this year.Gajarla Ravi is the fifth central committee member to be neutralised this year. Besides Chalapathi, Vivek Chandri Yadav alias Prayag, was killed in Jharkhand in April. CPI(Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraj, a PB and CC member, was eliminated by DRG personnel in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, last month; and Thentu Lakshmi alias Sudhakar was killed in Bijapur earlier this month.Ravi was killed on Wednesday morning in an encounter near Kintukuru village between Maredumilli and Rampachodavaram areas in ASR district.

Security forces spotted a group of nine Maoists, leading to the exchange of fire. Bodies of the three Maoists and three AK-47 rifles were recovered after the firing had ended. Greyhound teams identified them as Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, Aruna and Anju.Ravi and Aruna carried rewards of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 20 lakh respectively, and were accused of several killings in AP and Odisha.Gajarla Ravi, aged around 62, was secretary of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC).

An ITI diploma holder, he was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.Since 2005, 14 PB members have been arrested, killed or were deceased due to illnesses. This has shrunk the PB to just four active members, Muppalla Laxman Rao alias Ganpathy, Mallojula Venugopal alias Abhay; Thippiri Tirupathi alias Deoji; and Misir Besra. Either Abhay or Deoji is believed to have the over the leadership of CPI(Maoist) after Basavaraju’s elimination.Every PB member is also part of the CC, but not vice versa.CC strength too has depleted over the years, with 27 non-PB members lost since 2007 to arrests, surrenders and death by illness. It now has 13 active members, including the 4 PB leaders. Among the non-PB, inactive members, 12 are in jail and three died of natural causes. Four CC members surrendered in Telangana and Maharashtra. Eight CC members have been neutralised since 2007, including five this year. Active CC members now include Kadari Satyanaryana Reddy, Chandranna, Modem Balakrishna, Ganesh Uike, Anal Da, Madvi Hidma, K Ramachandra Reddy, Sujata and Malla Raja Reddy. Andhra Pradesh police sources on Wednesday said CPI-Maoists’ top leadership tried to provide support to the AOB committee with a 25-member military squad led by Chelluri Narayana Rao (alias Suresh) a couple of months ago, but security forces foiled their attempts.

Uday was an accused in the Balimela ambush in which 37 security personnel were killed, and also other attacks in AP and Odisha. He was the secretary for Malkangiri, Koraput, and Visakhapatnam border (MKVB) division for many years.Vizag range DIG Gopinath Jetti said the bodies of the three Maoist leaders would be brought to Rampachodavaram area hospital for postmortem, and later handed over to their family members.

Greyhound teams are carrying out combing operations in Maredumilli and Rampachodavaram forest areas for the escaped Maoists, who include district committee member Vijayalakshmi (alias Bhumika), and others.News of Aruna’s surrender plans was circulating for the past couple of months, as she was not in a position to move freely due to an illness. Ravi too was short of insulin injections for his diabetes.Maoists operating in the AOB area have suffered serious losses in the past decade, and now their main leadership has been eliminated.

Gajarla Ravi (62), from Velisala village in combined Warangal district of Telangana, joined the then People’s War Group (PWG) in the 1990s. When the PWG suffered losses in north Telangana, he was sent to AOB in the early 2000s.Four of Ravi’s five brothers were involved in the Naxalite movement. His elder brother, Rajaiah, died of illness in the forests while remaining underground. Another elder brother was an employee in Singareni.

His third elder brother, Saraiah (alias Azad), and his wife B Aruna (alias Padma, alias Rama) were killed in an encounter inside Kantanapally forests in Eturnagaram in 2008. His younger brother, Aitu, was a Maoist commander in Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra who surrendered in 2016.Ravi, the fourth son of Mallaiha and Kanakamma, joined the Naxal movement in the early 1990s. His Maoist wife, Prameela (alias Jilani Begum), was killed in an encounter earlier.Aruna, a native of Karakavanipalem in Pendurthi mandal on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, joined the outlawed group two-and-a-half decades ago. Her brother Gopi (alias Azad), who was the Galikonda area commander, was killed by security forces in 2015 in Koyyuru mandal, while her sister was arrested in 2006 for having links with Naxals.