22-05-2025
Who is Basavaraju?
Hyderabad: One of India's most wanted Naxal leaders, Nambala Keshav Rao, also known as Basavaraju, was killed in the encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. Keshav Rao, the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), has been part of the Naxalite movement since the late 1970s and was one of its most feared strategists. He carried a bounty of Rs 1.5 crore and was wanted in connection with several deadly attacks on security forces across multiple states.
A native of Jiyyannapet village in Srikakulam district, Keshav Rao was the son of a school teacher. He studied engineering at Warangal Regional Engineering College (REC) before being drawn into student activism in the 1980s. After being arrested during a student union protest in 1980, he went underground and joined the Naxals. Over the next four decades, Keshav Rao rose through the ranks and became known for his meticulous planning, ruthless ambushes, expertise in jungle warfare and making IEDs.
Security officials believe he was the mastermind behind the 2010 Dantewada attack, one of the deadliest ever on Indian forces, in which 76 CRPF jawans were killed in Chhattisgarh.
In 2018, he replaced Ganapathy (Muppala Lakshman Rao) as the head of the Maoist Central Committee. His elevation marked a more aggressive phase for the group,
with Keshav Rao believed to be behind several high-profile attacks, including the Alipiri attack on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, killing of TDP MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Sivari Soma in Andhra Pradesh the same year.
Despite the massive bounty, Keshav Rao managed to remain elusive for decades. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had no recent photographs or confirmed details about his age.
His death marks a significant blow to the CPI (Maoist),
especially in Chhattisgarh and surrounding states, where he helped strengthen the group's operational grip.
