In a major setback to CPI (Maoist), a top Naxal leader, who was allegedly involved in attempts on the lives of two former chief ministers N Chandrababu Naidu and N Janardhan Reddy, and another suspected Maoist were killed in an encounter with police in Adilabad district on Friday .
Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, who was a senior member of CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, the top decision- making body of the banned group, held an M Tech degree and was in his fifties. Azad carried a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head. He was also the outfit's spokesman.
Acting on specific information about the movement of Naxalites in the forest area of Vankidi Mandal, close to Maharashtra, a special police team had launched a combing operation in the region, Deputy Superintendent of Police K Sasidhar told PTI.
He said the police team came across a group of Maoists around 11 pm yesterday. On being fired upon, the team retaliated and a gunbattle ensued which continued till 0200 hours today. The police combed the area in the morning and found two bodies, he said. Some surrendered ultras identified one of the dead as Azad. He was a member of the CPI (Maoist) politbureau, Sasidhar said.
The other person killed was yet to be identified and is suspected to be a Naxalite from a different state, he said.
The death of Azad is being seen as a major blow to the Maoists. He was allegedly involved in 16 offences that included attempts on the lives of Chandrababu Naidu in September 2003 and Janardhan Reddy, a former chief minister and Congress leader, in September 2007. Azad belonged to Krishna district and joined the Naxal ranks in 1970s. He remained underground since then, police sources said.
Meanwhile, Maoist sympathiser and revolutionary poet Varavara Rao alleged that the encounter of Azad was "fake" and demanded that a case of murder be registered.
Acting on a petition filed by Azad's mother, Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the police to conduct the post-mortem at the government hospital at Mancherial in Adilabad and that the body be shown to her. An AK-47 with a spare magazine and a 9 mm pistol were recovered from the encounter site, police said. PTI
