Top Maoist leader, two others killed in Andhra encounter, say police

RAVI'S DEATH COMES AMID AN AGGRESSIVE PUSH BY SECURITY FORCES TO END LEFT WING EXTREMISM IN A FEW DISTRICTS ACROSS INDIA

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD: Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, a central committee member of the banned Maoist organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist), was killed in a fierce encounter with Greyhounds, the elite anti-Maoist forces of Andhra Pradesh police in the forests of Maredumilli in Alluri Sitarama Raju district in the early hours of Wednesday, state police said, marking the fifth death of a central committee member since January of this year.

Along with Ravi, another top Maoist leader Raavi Venkata Chaitanya alias Aruna and another unidentified Maoist were also killed in the encounter. Aruna was the wife of another central committee member Pratapreddy Ramachandra Reddy alias Chalapati, who was killed in the encounter with the security forces at Gariaband in Chhattisgarh bordering Odisha in January.