WARANGAL: In a major blow to the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, CPI (Maoist) top gun Patel Sudhakar Reddy was killed along with his colleague Venkataiah in Lavvala jungles in Warangal district in an encounter with the police on Sunday morning.
Reddy, who carries a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head, was a central committee member. He was wanted by the police in several cases, including the attempt on the lives of former AP Chief Ministers N Chandrababu Naidu at Alipri (2003) and N Janardhan Reddy in Nellore district (2007) and the assassination of former Home Minister A Madhava Reddy in Nalgonda district (2000). He is also allegedly involved in the murder of senior IPS officers K S Vyas and Umesh Chandra besides plotting the Balimela incident where the Maoists sank a boat, killing 36 Greyhounds personnel on APOrissa border on June last year.
Venkataiah, who died along with Reddy, was a member of CPI (Maoist) state committee.
According to District Superintendent of Police V C Sajjanar, the combing team came across about 25 Maoists in Durgam Gutta in Lavvala forest area on Sunday morning and warned them to drop guns and surrender. But the ultras kept firing at the police forcing them to return the fire. The Naxalites fled the area firing at the police. After half-an-hour, guns fell silent and the police searched the area. They found the bodies of the two Naxalite leaders. A few more Maoists were injured and the police were looking for them.
The police found one AK 47, one 9 mm pistol, an 8 mm rifle and Rs 20,000 from the spot.
Sajjanar said that the police had information 10 days ago about Maoists crossing the Godavari river from neighbouring Orissa and Chhattisgarh. They came to Warangal district to ‘talk to’ contractors who had hired coolies for picking beedi leaves. They were also planning some major ‘action’ in the district.
As soon as the news of the death of the two Maoists broke out, civil rights organisations cried foul saying that the encounter was stage-managed. They claimed that Reddy was arrested near Nasik before the recent elections and shot dead in cold blood on Sunday.
A shrewd strategist in planning attacks, Reddy belonged to Kurti Ravula Cheruvu in Maldakal Mandal in Mahaboobnagar district. He went underground while doing law in Osmania University.
In 1986, he became commander of squad in Eturunagaram. Later he worked in Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra. He acted as incharge of arms dump in Karnataka and was arrested by the police in 1992. He came out on bail in 1996 and went underground again.
In 1998, he worked as secretary for party Nalgonda district unit.
The police have very few details about Venkataiah. He belonged to Cheryal in Warangal district. He worked as commander of Giraipalli Squad in 1998 and then took up activity in Nallamala forest area.