In a significant blow to the Communist Party of India (Maoist), three Maoists, including a central committee member, were killed in an encounter with the Greyhounds, an elite anti-Naxal force, in Andhra Pradesh's Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Wednesday morning. The incident occurred near Akooru village in the Maredumilli forest area, a region bordering Odisha's Malkangiri and Koraput districts.
The deceased have been identified as Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, a Central Committee Member of the CPI (Maoist) and Secretary of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), Aruna, a South Zonal Committee Member and wife of the late Central Committee Member Chalapathi, who was recently killed in Chhattisgarh, and another member named Anju. Preliminary information suggests that the operation was launched based on prior intelligence inputs, and authorities have intensified surveillance across tribal belts to track any remaining Maoist presence in the area.
Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, originally from Karimnagar district of Telangana, was a key figure in the Maoist organization and was considered the seniormost leader in the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border areas. He was also allegedly involved in plotting an assassination attempt against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in 2003. Uday had previously fled the Andhra-Odisha border region for Dandakaranya in 2022, but returned to the AOBSZC in November 2024 following intensified operations by security forces. His death represents a major setback for the Maoist organization in the region.
Aruna, another senior Maoist leader killed in the encounter, was the wife of Chalapathi, a central committee member who was killed earlier this year in Chhattisgarh. She was allegedly involved in the killing of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma in 2018 in Visakhapatnam district. Aruna carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh on her head.
According to police sources, the encounter took place during a combing operation in the forest region near Rampachodavaram. Security forces recovered three AK-47 rifles from the encounter site. No injuries or casualties were reported among the police personnel.
The killing of Gajarla Ravi is the fifth such instance of a central committee member being targeted by security forces in Left Wing Extremism-affected states this year. Earlier this month, security forces killed CCM Sudhakar in an encounter around Indravati National Park area in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, and prior to that, CCM Prayag Manjhi was killed in an encounter in Bokaro, Jharkhand. In May, the general secretary of the Maoists, Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavarju, was killed in an encounter in Abujmarh forest.
Security analysts believe that the recent encounters indicate a weakening hold of Maoist outfits in different regions. The death of Uday, who was a formidable face in the Andhra Odisha border region, has significantly weakened their organization. With Uday's death, the top body of the CPI (Maoist) is left with only nine members.
In response to the ongoing anti-Maoist operations, the CPI (Maoist) has called for a bandh on June 20 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Security has been tightened in both states in anticipation of potential unrest. Efforts are underway to retrieve the bodies from the location, and further investigation is in progress.
