Andhra Pradesh police have killed Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad, a senior Maoist leader, in a gun battle near the Dharmavaram railway station in Anantapur district near Karnataka border.
Sande Rajamouli was the head of the Communist Party of India-Maoist in Karnataka. He has reportedly masterminded the assassination plan of the then Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu in 2003.
He was the brain behind plotting the land mine explosion that almost killed Chandrababu Naidu at Alipiri near Tirupati. In that attack, Naidu had escaped with minor injuries.
According to the police, Rajamouli had apparently fired at the police and in the reaction the policemen fired back on killing him. He was accompanied with a woman and a man, who were supposed to be his bodyguards. Both of them escaped during the gun battle.
In recent past, the CPI-Maoist has lost many Maoists leaders including some big leaders in Andhra Pradesh. The police have claimed that the killings of top leaders and detention of other cadres have weakened the Maoists movement in the state.
The Maoists movement has been spread in the state of Andhra Pradesh and since the year 1969, the Maoists have killed more than 6,000 people.
Now, the central government and the Maoist-affected states have decided to strengthen their network and police forces to restrict Maoist movement in the regions.
Read
File Images: Hindu
