Central committee member Gajarla Ravi among 3 Maoists killed in encounter in Andhra Pradesh
Three Maoists, including a member of the central committee (CC) of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), were killed in an encounter in the Maredumilli forests in Andhra Pradesh's Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Wednesday morning, the police said.
'An AK-47 rifle was found, which means one of them is a senior leader. We suspect him to be Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, a CC member. A top woman leader, Aruna, who is also known as Venkata, and one unidentified male have also died in the encounter,' Amit Bardar, Superintendent of Police (SP), Alluri Sitharama Raju district, said.
SP Bardar said the three Maoists were killed following an exchange of fire with the anti-Naxalite unit Greyhounds. Officials said that they suspect that the Maoists entered from Chhattisgarh. Based on intelligence tip-offs, a combing operation was launched which resulted in the encounter, officials added.
Ravi alias Ganesh was on the National Investigation Agency's most wanted list and was known to be a top military strategist. In 2004, he was one of the negotiators the CPI (Maoist) had sent for peace talks with the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government.
Hailing from Chityala in the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district of Telangana, Ravi was known to have operated in Malkangiri and Dandakaranya. He was a former secretary of the CPI (Maoist)'s Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC). One of five brothers, Ravi and three of his elder brothers joined the Maoists, officials said.
Aruna was the wife of senior Maoist leader Chalapati alias Appa Rao, who was killed in an earlier encounter.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the CPI (Maoist) has called for a bandh on June 20 in protest against the ongoing anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh.
In a statement, state committee spokesperson Jagan said that more than 550 Maoists, including senior leaders, have been killed as part of 'Operation Kagar' since January last year. He added that the Centre has decided to wipe out Maoists by March 2026. In protest against the operation, the CPI (Maoist) called for a bandh in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
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