HYDERABAD: In a major setback to the Maoist movement, a key leader of the party surrendered to the police, on Wednesday, in the presence of Director General of Police (DGP) M Mahender Reddy.
The Maoist leader, Ravula Ranjit alias Srikanth, gave up the cat-and-mouse game with police and decided to make a fresh start in life with the `4 lakh the government provided him. He was also paid Rs 5,000 for immediate expenses.
Ranjit is the son of late Ramanna who was the secretary of Dandakaranya south zone committee. After Ramanna’s demise, Ranjit has been playing a key role in the party, the police said. Ranjit was involved in four brutal attacks on security forces and one ambush, in addition to several other incidents. In 2018, Ranjit, along with a team of Maoist activists, blew up a mine-proof vehicle at Kasaram, killing nine security personnel. In 2020, he was part of a team that ambushed and killed 23 security personnel in Minapa. In the incident, three Maoists had also died.
He was also involved in another ghastly attack at Jeeram in April this year, during which the Maoists killed about 26 security forces. As many as six Maoists also died.After his father died in August due to cardiac arrest, Katta Ramachandra Reddy took over as secretary of Dandakarayna special zonal committee. The police said Ranjit told them that party State committee secretary Yapa Narayana died after he contracted Covid. Ranjit faced humiliation in the party after his father’s death, the police added.
Ranjit was born in 1998 to an underground couple committed to the revolutionary ideology in Dandakaranya forest and was brought up in South Bastar division. The police said that since childhood, he was taught the Maoist ideology and was waging a war against the State with the objective of establishing a new democratic revolution through the barrel of the gun. He joined the underground operations of the Maoists after completing Class 10 in April, 2015.