NALGONDA: Paka Hanumanthu (60), alias Ganesh Uikey, a Central Committee member of the banned CPI (Maoist) who was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the Gummatawi area of Kandhamal district in Odisha, hailed from Pullemula village in Chandur mandal of Nalgonda district.
Ganesh was the eldest of six children of P Chandraiah and Ettamma. He completed his schooling up to Class X in Chandur and later pursued his Intermediate and second year of undergraduate studies in Nalgonda. The family owns five acres of agricultural land. Villagers said his parents passed away three years ago.
Ganesh was initially associated with the Radical Students Union (RSU), a frontal organisation of the CPI(M), a Naxalite group, which became defunct after 2005. However, his life took a turn in 1980 when police suspected his involvement in the murder of ABVP activist Yechuri Srinu in Nalgonda. Following this, he discontinued his BSc second year at NG College and went underground. Villagers said he never returned to his native place thereafter, not even to attend his parents’ funerals.
Two of his brothers are currently working as labourers in Nalgonda, while his sisters are residing in Hyderabad. Police officials contacted his brother Ashok to inform him about the encounter. Ashok reportedly told the police that Ganesh had left home when he was very young and that he had no memory of him. Attempts by reporters to reach other family members for further details were unsuccessful as their mobile phones remained switched off.