HYDERABAD: Veteran freedom fighter Etukuri Krishnamurthy (104) passed away due to ill health at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday night.
His mortal remains have been kept at the CPI Telangana State Office, Maqdoom Bhavan, Hyderabad, for people to pay their last respects. His last rites will be performed this afternoon.
CPI Telangana State Secretary and Kothagudem MLA Koonamneni Sambasiva Rao expressed deep condolences over the death of veteran freedom fighter Etukuri Krishnamurthy.
Communist Movement Leader
Etukuri Krishnamurthy, a veteran freedom fighter and a lifelong seeker of knowledge, was born on September 9, 1922, in Etukuru village of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.
He was the son of Etukuri Sitaramaiah. Influenced by his elder brother, Etukuri Balarama Murthy, a prominent Communist leader, Marxist intellectual and scholar, Krishnamurthy became involved in student movements and Communist Party activities from a young age. He was imprisoned several times for his political activities. During the period when the Communist Party was banned, he was arrested on several occasions and subjected to police torture.
Inspired by the call of national leader and freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad, he joined the British Army during the Second World War. While serving in the British Army, he organised a special party cell in solidarity with the struggle by Royal Indian Navy personnel in Bombay against British rule. For his activities against the British Army, he was arrested and detained for seven months in Lahore Jail, then in undivided India (now in Pakistan), and was subjected to a court-martial.
Krishnamurthy escaped court-martial proceedings and subsequently joined the Revenue Department of the Andhra State government.
He played a prominent role in the NGO Association, mobilising state government employees and fighting for their rights. In the undivided Andhra Pradesh state, he also helped organise freedom fighters and establish a union.
Even in his later years, Krishnamurthy continued to actively participate in Communist Party activities.
As a leader of the Communist movement, he authored several books.
