Top Maoist leader RK dies at age 63 in Chhattisgarh forests

Mangalore Today News Network

Bijapur, Oct 15, 2021: In a big jolt to the banned CPI (Maoists) outfit, its central committee member Ramakrishna, who is also known as RK, died due to illness at the age of 63. He was living an underground life somewhere in the deep forests of Chhattisgarh’s South Bijapur.

A native of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, RK, whose original name was Akkiraju Hargopal, was born in 1958 and had briefly worked as a school teacher after graduation. His father was also a school headmaster.

WHO WAS RK?

RK was a BTech graduate from NIT Warangal and had gone underground after joining the People’s War Group (PWG) in 1978. He was carrying a reward of over Rs 1 crore. He was wanted by governments in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha Police and the NIA.

In 1992, RK was appointed as a state committee member of the PWG. He had also served as leader of the outfit’s South Telangana committee. In January 2000, he had become a central committee member in PWG’s 9th Congress.

He had led the failed peace talks with the then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government in 2004. RK was the chief advisor of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) of CPI (Maoists).Due to his mechanical engineering background, RK had earned his fame in the organisation by becoming a master in making arms, IEDs, explosives. He was known as Saket in the cutoff area of Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border.

In 2018 he had become a member of the CPI (Maoists). During the same year, in an encounter with Andhra Pradesh’s Greyhounds special forces along the Andhra-Odisha border, his son and wife were killed along with 24 others. RK, however, had managed to escape.

Meanwhile, RK’s Brothers Shyam and Subba Rao, both residents of Hyderabad, said that they got to know about his death through media and officials of Telangana Police.

Courtesy:India Today