38 leaders of banned CPI (Maoist) are in Chhattisgarh’s most-wanted list, show records

According to police records, these 38 wanted Maoists are still managing activities in the 13 Naxal-hit districts of Chhattisgarh, and others states.

Representational Image | Adeel Halim | Bloomberg

Raipur: As many as 38 Maoist leaders and top functionaries of banned terror group Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its frontal organisations, with bounties worth over Rs 14 crore, are in the most-wanted list of Chhattisgarh, ThePrint has learnt.

More than half of these Maoist leaders, who are responsible for monitoring the Naxal cadre network and their countrywide activities, have been living underground for nearly two to three decades, show police records on most-wanted Maoists in the state, as of January 2020.

ThePrint has accessed the records that reveal several details about the aging Maoist leaders and their lives.

According to two senior police and intelligence officials in the state, these wanted Maoists are still managing activities in the 13 Naxal-hit districts of Chhattisgarh, and others states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha. 

Of the 38 wanted Maoists, 21 are office bearers and members of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee and Politburo. The remaining 17 are members and managers of the organisation’s Dand Karanya Zonal Special Committee (DKZSC) and its state-level frontal bodies, mainly active in Naxal-hit areas of the tribal state.

While Politburo and Central Committee members have centralised responsibilities, DKZSC members are mainly Chhattisgarh functionaries.

These leaders are primarily in their 50s (17 of them), with some who are in their 60s and 70s — 13 of them. The rest are in their 40s.

The older Maoists, leading underground lives for several years, are forced to lead the cadre as the banned outfit is finding it difficult to find support from the local public in Chhattisgarh, leading to poor recruitment in the tribal belts of Naxal-hit Bastar, the officials told ThePrint.

Bounty of three categories

According to the police records, these Maoist leaders carry cash rewards on their heads in mainly three denominations as announced by the Chhattisgarh government, which faces a serious threat from Naxalism.

Seven Naxal commanders carry the maximum bounty of Rs 1 crore on their heads; 14 radical Left-ultras have Rs 40 lakh on their heads. All 21 of these are members and office bearers of CPI (Maoist) Politburo and Central Committee.

The 17 other wanted Maoists, with Rs 25 lakh cash award on their heads, are mainly DKZSC members and office bearers of its frontal organisations in the state.

‘Old and weak forced to man cadres’

The officials claimed these Naxal leaders have now grown older and are finding it difficult to maintain their clout among the people who now want to free themselves and their areas of the Naxal tag.

Sundarraj P., Inspector General of Police (IG), Bastar Range, said this is one of the chief causes for Naxals finding difficult to continue their violence in the past five years.

“This is quite evident that most of the Maoist leaders are in their late 50s, 60s and even 70s. Apart from massive deployment of security forces, around 80,000, in strife-torn Maoist belt of the state, developmental works taken up by the state government have further added to their injuries, bringing down their militia strength to half,” said Sundarraj.

According to the IG, a high number of these wanted Left-ultras are also not keeping well due to their old age. This becomes a big hurdle for the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) in allocating tasks and executing their operations.

Bounty of Rs 1 crore

The seven Maoists who carry a bounty of Rs 1 crore on their heads: Nambwala Keshav Rao alias Wasavraj (64, in hiding for 25 years); Mupalla Lakshman Rao, alias Ramanna or Gudsa Dada (72, in hiding for 42 years); Kattakam Sudarshan alias Anand Mohan (62, in hiding for 37 years); Mallojulla Venugopal alias Lakshanna (60, in hiding for 37 years); Mishir Besra (82, in hiding for around three decades); Prashant Bose alias Kisan Da (81); and Vivek Chandri (57).

Bounty of Rs 40 lakh

The 14 Maoists who carry a bounty of Rs 40 lakh on their heads: Mallaraji Reddy alias Satanna (72); Kadari Satyanarayan Reddy alias Kosa (60); Thippri Tirupati alias Chetan (60); Akki Raju Hargopal (56); Pullari Prasad Rao alias Bhaskar (56); Madem Balkrishna (55); Ranjit Bose (56); Deepak Teltumbde (60); Ganesh Uike alias Chamru Dada (56); Gajraala Ravi (55); Anal Da alias Toofan; Shobha alias Sheela Marandi (55); Pramod Mishra alias Ban Bihari (65); and Sanjay Deepak Rao.

Bounty of Rs 25 lakh

Around 17 DKSZC members and office bearers are leading the cadre in Chhattisgarh. After dreaded Maoist Ramanna, who headed DKZSC for all militia actions against security forces in the state, died in November 2019, CPI (Maoist) hasn’t yet announced his replacement.

However, Madvi Hidma (53), a dreaded Naxal leader of DKSZC has been entrusted with the leadership of the militia activities of Maoists in the state.

The 16 other Maoists who carry a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on their heads: Sujata alias Jhansibai or Kalpana (58, in hiding for over three decades); Sujata alias Allurri Krishna Kumari (58, in hiding for over three decades); Lengu alias Sanjeev (60, in hiding for over 20 years); Ramder alias Soma (45); Rajchandra Reddy (55); Takkapallia Vasudev (53); Venkatesha (46); Ravi alias Bhaskar (53, in hiding for over 25 years); Griddi Pawnandam (59, in hiding for over 35 years); Kamlesh alias Ramakrishna; Girdhar; Surendra alias Soma Sodhi (51); Chandu alias Chander (39); Raghu alias Vikas (69, in hiding for three decades); Vinay Reddy (53, in hiding for over two decades); and Rushi (40).