New Delhi: Indian security forces last week struck a major blow to Left-wing insurgents with the elimination of the first Maoists’ central committee member in several years. Second only to the politburo, the central committee is the top decision making body of the Maoists, followed by the central military commission.
Ramachandra Reddy Gari Pratap Reddy, alias Chalapathi, a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was one of 16 insurgents killed in the over two-day operation that began on 19 January. The operation in Chhattisgarh’s Kularighat reserve forest, barely 5 km from Odisha’s Nuapada district, was led by a joint team of Chhattisgarh and Odisha police and the elite CoBRA unit of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Security forces had been on the lookout for the Maoist commander, who joined the insurgency sometime in the 1980s and headed the Odisha state committee of the banned outfit. Born in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor, Chalapathi masterminded the 2018 killings of TDP MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma. He carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore.
While Chalapathi’s killing marked a turned point in the fight against Left Wing Extremism (LWE), it does not take away from the fact that many top Maoist leaders continue to remain elusive even decades after they waged a guerrilla-style offensive against the government.
Security forces have managed to eliminate more than 300 top Maoist cadres in LWE-affected states Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the last five years. Data from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the nodal ministry dealing with LWE, shows Communist Party of India (Maoist) is the largest and the most violent Maoist group. Born out of an uprising by landless farmers against landlords in West Bengal in 1967, violent Maoism at one point emerged as the biggest threat to India’s internal security.
Historically, states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala were considered LWE-affected states but government records suggest a significant decline in violence and affected areas.
ThePrint takes a close look at top Maoist leaders killed in encounters with security forces over the past 25 years as well those still at large as security forces hunt for them in line with the Ministry of Home Affairs’ mission to make India “Naxal-free” by March 2026.
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Maoist leaders killed in encounters
In the last 25 years, security forces have killed 10 members of the central committee which includes members of the politburo, while at least four of them are still at large.
Mattam Ravikumar
A top Maoist leader, Mattam Ravikumar alias Sridhar or Anil, was killed in an encounter with police in the dense Nallamala forest in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district in June 2006.
According to police records accessed by ThePrint, he had been associated with the movement since 1986 and was a member of the central and state committees of the CPI (Maoist).
Sande Rajamouli
Sande Rajamouli, CPI (Maoist) central committee member also known by his alias Prasad, was killed by Andhra Pradesh Police in Anantapur district in June 2007. He died in an exchange of fire with a special police party near Dharmavaram railway station.
Having joined the movement in 1982, he ascended to the central military commission and later the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) before his death.
Gajarla Saraiah
Belonging to a family of Maoists from Velishala village in present day Suryapet district of Telangana, Gajarla Saraiah was killed in an encounter with Andhra Pradesh Police in Kanthanapally forests in Warangal district in April 2008.
He was a member of the central committee and central military commission.
His wife Padma was also killed in the same encounter in 2008 while his younger brother, Gajarla Ravi, was killed in 2016 in an encounter in Odisha’s Malkangiri district.
Patel Sudhakar Reddy
Sudhakar Reddy, also known by his aliases Suryam or Srikanth, was killed in an encounter with Andhra Pradesh Police in the Lavvala jungles of Warangal district in May 2009.
A member of the central committee, Reddy was accused of a failed assassination attempt against Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu in 2003 as well as the murders of IPS officers K.S. Vyas and Umesh Chandra. He was also accused of orchestrating an attack against Andhra Pradesh’s anti-Naxal force, Greyhounds, at Balimela reservoir in Odisha’s Malkangiri district in 2008 that resulted in deaths of 36 personnel.
Sakhamuri Appa Rao
A central committee member, Sakhamuri Appa Rao was arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police in 1993 and spent time in prison along with Sudhakar Reddy.
However, he escaped after being released on bail in 2000 and went on to play a key role in the alleged plot to assassinate Naidu and former Andhra CM N. Janardhana Reddy.
He was also a co-conspirator in the killing of Vyas.
Rao was killed in an encounter with police in Prakasam district in March 2010.
Cherukuri Rajkumar
Cherukuri Rajkumar, also known by his alias Azad, went underground in 1979, according to police records accessed by ThePrint, before he was killed in an encounter with police on a hilltop in Andhra Pradesh’s Adilabad district in July 2010.
A member of the CPI (Maoist) politburo and the spokesperson for the central committee, Azad was also instrumental in the expansion of the operations and coordinating the movement of cadres in states such as Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, while also being a driving force behind the movement in Andhra Pradesh.
Mallojula Koteswara Rao
Known by his alias Kishenji, Mallojula Koteswara Rao was killed by security forces in an encounter in November 2011 in Burishol forest in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district.
Born into a Brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district in 1956, he went on to become the most wanted Maoist and the second-highest member in the Maoist hierarchy.
Milind Teltumbde
Milind Teltumbde, known by aliases Jeeva and Deepak, was killed by the elite C-60 commandos of Gadchiroli district police in November 2021. A central committee member, Teltumbde had more than 60 cases registered against him and was in charge of the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone for the banned outfit.
He was also accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, in which his elder brother, Anand Teltumbde, was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA). Anand spent two years in prison before he was released in November 2022 on the order of the Supreme Court.
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Maoist leaders still at large
While security forces have intensified their offensive against the Maoists over the past year, at least 17 central committee members, including four politburo members, remain at large, according to police records accessed by ThePrint.
Nambala Keshava Rao (67)
Keshava Rao, also known by his alias Basavaraj, holds the highest position in the CPI (Maoist) hierarchy as its general secretary. Born in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Rao was the head of the central military commission before his elevation to the politburo.
A former engineer, he is the number one target on the most wanted list of police in Chhattisgarh and other Naxal-affected states, carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore.
He is also credited with strengthening the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the armed wing of the CPI (Maoist), formed in 2000 after the merger of several splinter groups.
Muppala Lakshman Rao (69)
Muppala Lakshman Rao, known by his alias Ganapathy, was the first general secretary of the CPI (Maoist).
He played a crucial role in the merger of Maoist splinter groups, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), in 2004.
He was reportedly asked to step down from the general secretary’s post by other senior leaders following the killing of the TDP MLAs in 2018 after the approval of Basavaraj.
While he remains a politburo member even after stepping down as general secretary, reports in sections of the media, though denied by CPI (Maoist), suggested Rao attempted to surrender before the Telangana government in 2020.
Mallojula Venugopal Rao (60)
Venugopal Rao, the younger brother of former central committee member Kishenji, who was killed in an encounter in 2011, has come a long way from being appointed as spokesperson of the outfit in 2010 to a politburo member now.
A resident of Karimnagar district, Rao carries a reward of Rs 1 crore and has been Ganapathy’s close aide for a long time. Despite speculation about his potential surrender in 2020, like Ganapathy, Rao continues to evade the grip of security forces.
Misir Besra (63)
Misir Besra, the only top Maoist from Jharkhand in the CPI (Maoist) politburo, has been on the radar of security forces since 2003 when he first met Ganapathy, the then chief of the banned Maoist outfit. Belonging to Giridih district, Besra carries a reward of Rs 1 crore announced by both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand Police.
He was declared commander of the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB), which operates across Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of eastern India.
Madvi Hidma (51)
Born in Puvarti village of Sukma district, Madvi Hidma is the commander of the first battalion of the PLGA. Having joined the Maoists in the 1990s, Hidma first rose to prominence for laying an ambush for CRPF troops in the Tadmetla area of Bijapur, which resulted in the deaths of 76 paramilitary personnel.
While Basavaraj is the chief of the Maoist organisation, Hidma is widely regarded as the commander-in-chief of the CPI (Maoist), having allegedly planned all major attacks on security forces. He is also seen as the most potent threat to law enforcement agencies.
Other central committee members of the CPI (Maoist) have been identified as Vivek Chandri Yadav (60), Kadir Satyanarayan Reddy (63), Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji (62), Pulluri Prasad Rao alias Chandranna (68), Modem Balakrishna (57), Arun Bhattacharjee alias Kanchan (61), Malla Raji Reddy alias Sathenna (73), Ganesh Uikey (60), Gajarla Ravi alias Ganesh, Patiram Manjhi alias Anal Da (57) and Pramod Mishra (69).
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)