Major blow to Maoists: Gajarla Ravi, Ravi Venka among 3 leaders gunned down in Andhra Pradesh - key details

VISAKHAPATNAM: The CPI Maoists in the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) received a severe jolt as its Central Committee member and AOBSZC secretary, Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, and AOBSZC member and East Division secretary, Ravi Venka Chaitanya alias Aruna, were killed in an encounter.

Another cadre, Anju, was also killed close to Kintukuru village, between the Maredumilli and Rampachodavaram areas in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, in the early hours of Wednesday. Police sources confirmed the death of the Maoists, although an official announcement is yet to be made.Security forces spotted a group of 16 Maoists near Kintukuru village, between Maredumilli and Rampachodavaram. After a 25-minute exchange of fire, security forces found three dead bodies and identified them as Uday, Aruna, and Anju. The remaining members were said to be escaped from the area and combing operations are going on in the area. It is recalled that the same squad escaped twice from the security forces' combing operations in AOB in the past couple of months.Who was Uday?Uday became a well-known face as he was one of the members of the PWG Maoists group that came for peace talks with the state govt in 2004-05 during YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s tenure as CM.

His four-decade-old underground life came to an end in Alluri district. Aruna was the wife of Central Committee leader Pratapareddy Ramachandra Reddy alias Chalapati, who was killed in Dandakarnya recently by the security forces.The Maoists in the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) have suffered serious losses in the past few years, and now their main leadership was eliminated. Who was Aruna?Gajarla Ravi (62), from Velisala village in the combined Warangal district in Telangana, joined the then People’s War Group (PWG) Maosit in the 1980s.

He was a radical student union (RSU) leader and a former member of the North Telangana Special Zonal Committee. When the PWG suffered severe losses in Telangana, he was sent to AOB.His elder brother, Azad, and his wife, Rupa, were also killed in an encounter. His younger brother Aitu was a former commander of the Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra and surrendered. Uday’s wife Jameela, was also killed in an encounter.Aruna, a native of Karakavanipalem in Pendurthi mandal on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, joined the Reds almost two and a half decades ago. Her brother, Azad, Galikonda Area Commander, was also encountered in 2015 in Koyyuru mandal. According to sources, she was suffering from serious health problems.