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Maoist legacy of Gajarla family ends with Ravi: Top Maoist's four-decade journey ends in Andhra encounter; wife, brothers, cousins — all part of movement, most killed or surrendered
HYDERABAD: CPI (Maoist) central committee member Gajarla Ravi, who was killed in an encounter in the forest areas of Alluri Sitarama Raju district in Andhra Pradesh, joined the movement at a young age and gradually rose through the ranks.
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A senior intelligence official told TOI, "He was just seven when he started running errands for the Naxals and putting up posters for them." There was a brief period in his youth when his brother Saraiah tried weaning Ravi away from the Maoists and made him join an ITI at Peddapalli.
But Ravi eventually joined the Chityala area Revolutionary Youth League in 1989-90. By 1990, he was in the Eturunagaram dalam, working alongside his cousin brothers Gajarla Ramesh alias Gajarla Naveen, who later died in an encounter in 2020.
Ironically, Saraiah too joined the Maoist movement later.
In 2002 Ravi, who was a district committee secretary of the Karimnagar east division, was demoted to district committee member after he was held responsible for the infamous Chintagudem bus blast in Warangal in which 20 civilians were killed and 16 others were injured.
However, he was soon promoted again. By 2004, he had become a state committee member and later took charge of the Khammam-Karimnagar-Warangal region under the North
Special Zonal Committee.
In 2009, he was shifted to the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), becoming one of its top leaders.
Trail of losses
Ravi's wife, Nidigonda Prameela alias Meena, was also a member of the Maoist ranks. She served as the divisional committee secretary of AOBSZC and died in an encounter in Andrapalli on Oct 12, 2018. Saraiah too was a central committee member and part of the central military commission.
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He was killed in April 2008 in an encounter in Kanthanapally forest in Warangal along with his wife Padma alias Radha.
He had 70 criminal cases against him and was linked to the Manala killings, in which eight tribals were executed on charges of being police informers.
Another brother, Gajarla Ashok alias Aithu, was a district committee secretary of south Bastar. He surrendered in 2015 due to ill health. He now works as a reporter with a local newspaper.
His wife, Shanigarapu Uma alias Anitha, formerly part of a Maoist medical team, now works as a staff nurse in a private hospital in Hanamkonda.
The eldest brother, Gajarla Rajaiah alias Posaiah, did not survive the prolonged underground life and died due to ill health. The only brother to have led a non-Maoist life is Gajarla Sammaiah, a retired coal filler in Mancherial. A brother-in-law, Ramesh alias Naveen, also a Maoist, was killed in an encounter on July 26, 2020. He was part of the Annasagar dalam.
