Fresh blow to Naxals: Security forces gun down three top Maoist leaders in Andhra Pradesh

VISAKHAPATNAM: CPI (Maoists) in the Andhra-Odisha border (AOB) area suffered a severe jolt on Wednesday as three of its top leaders were killed in an encounter in the forest area of Alluri Sitarama Raju district in AP.

Police identified the killed Maoists as special zonal committee (AOBSZC) secretary Gajarla Ravi (alias Uday, alias Ganesh), AOBSZC member and east division secretary Aruna, and area committee member Anju.The encounter took place near Kintukuru village between Maredumilli and Rampachodavaram areas in ASR district. Security forces spotted a group of nine Maoists near Kintukuru, leading to the exchange of fire.

Bodies of the three Maoists and three AK-47 rifles were found at the spot after the firing ended. Greyhound teams identified them as Uday, Aruna, and Anju. The same squad, with more than 15 members, escaped twice during combing operations by security forces in the last couple of months. Uday and Aruna carried rewards of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 20 lakh on them, and were accused of orchestrating several killings in AP and Odisha.

Greyhounds carry out combing ops Vizag range DIG Gopinath Jetti said the bodies of the three Maoist leaders will be brought to Rampachodavaram hospital for postmortem, and later handed over to their family. 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.Police sources 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. An ITI diploma holder, Uday later became known as Charchala Ganesh. Maoists operating in the AOB area have suffered serious losses in the past decade, and now their main leadership has been eliminated. Gajarla Ravi (60), 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.