SRIKAKULAM: A pall of gloom descended over Jiyyannapeta village in Kotabommali mandal, Srikakulam, the hometown of Maoist leader Namballa Kesava Rao, alias Basava Raju, after he died in a firefight with security forces in an encounter in the dense forests of Abhujmad on the tri-junction of Narayanpur-Bijapur-Dantewada districts, Chhattisgarh.
Srikakulam SP K V Maheswara Reddy confirmed the Maoist party general secretary’s demise to TNIE, citing official reports from security forces on Wednesday.
Born in 1955 in Jiyyannapeta near NH-16, Kesava Rao was the second son of Vasudeva Rao, a late government teacher, and Lakshmi Narayanamma. He is survived by his elder brother, Dhilleswara Rao, a former kabaddi player and retired Port Blair sea port chairman, and younger brother, Ram Prasad, a Visakhapatnam-based real estate businessman, and one of his two sisters.
Kesava Rao, a skilled kabaddi and volleyball player, completed his B Tech at the Regional Engineering College, Warangal. While pursuing his M Tech, he joined the People’s War Group (PWG) in 1976 at the age of 21, drawn to the ideologies of leaders like Kondapalli Seetharamayya and K G Satyamurthy, and influenced by Srikakulam’s anti-landlord movement.
After joining the PWG, which later became the Maoist party, Kesava Rao cut ties with his village and family, and remained unmarried.
He carried Rs 1.5 cr bounty on his head
Known for expertise in IED explosions, Kesava Rao, who carried a bounty of Rs 1.5 crore, was implicated in the 2003 attack on CM N Chandrababu Naidu at Alipiri in Tirupati, as well as the 2010 Dantewada attack, which killed 76 CRPF jawans.
His uncle, retired teacher Namballa Satyanarayana, recalled his academic brilliance, while cousin Namballa Raja Sekhar noted his dedication to the Maoist cause.