CPI (Maoist)’s DKSZC Alleges Fake Encounter Behind Recent Killings; Says Successive Surrenders ‘Main Reason’ For it

Hyderabad: The Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the CPI (Maoist) has said that two of its slain leaders – Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, alias Kosa, and Katta Ramachandra Reddy, alias Raju Dada, alias Vikalp – who were recently appointed as the spokespersons of the central committee and DKSZC, respectively, were likely arrested by police between September 11 and 20 before being shot dead in a fake encounter in Maad region of Abujhmad forest in Chhattisgarh on September 22.

In a release dated September 23, DKSZC has said it had information that both of them were safe till September 10.

"They were picked up unarmed together or separately after September 11 either from Raipur town or somewhere else and shifted to Maad where they were killed. A stage managed operation was launched in the area on September 21 as an eyewash to create a scene of a major encounter in which they were killed the next day. This operation is continuing," the statement, undersigned as Vikalp, said.

Vikalp was one of the alias used by Ramachandra Reddy before he died, as he had dual responsibility – as central committee member and official spokesman of DKSZC. The designation was given to him after Satyanarayana Reddy, who as DKSZC secretary and official spokesman, went on to become CPI (Maoist) official spokesman following the removal of Mallojula Venugopal Rao, who made controversial remarks on party’s decision to shed armed struggle.

The statement of present Vikalp, whose identity has not yet been established, said Satyanarayana Reddy and Ramachandra Reddy set out to execute new responsibilities given to them by the party ten months ago.

"Our CC (central committee) comrades received a letter from them confirming their safety till September 10. The police must have inflicted several third degree methods of torture on them to extract secret information about the party when they went missing from September 11. Finally, they were killed in a fake encounter on September 22.

“The operation as claimed by police was false and unbelievable. The truth is different. The police should have followed due process of law after arresting them but resorted to extra judicial killings which must be condemned by everyone,” it added.

Analysing various possibilities of the police closing in on Maoists and killing them with the help of its informant network, the statement identified the role of surrendered cadres in tipping off the forces as a major reason for every loss that the party suffered. 

"Successive surrenders are the main reason for every loss," the official spokesman noted. 

“Some of them even joined the District Reserve Guard (DRG), an anti-Maoist force raised by the Chhattisgarh government to collaborate with security forces,” the spokesperson alleged.

Ramachandra Reddy had highlighted this concern in his last letter to the party on September 9. He had written that the informant network was so well built by police that it could breach the courier chain of the party leaders to the last point. 

Meanwhile, the statement also highlighted that Satyanarayana and Ramachandra Reddy had not been working in the forest with the "guerilla squads" of the party for some time. Several cadres who knew of this had surrendered to police. These included DKSZC-level leaders right down to ordinary members of the party.

Secondly, the police also identified insiders in the party who took the responsibility of coordinating with the surrendered Maoists.

Thirdly, the two or three Maoists who formed the security ring of surrendered leaders also gave up to police and actively worked with the DRG.

Such DRG men even informed the police about the courier who accompanied Ramachandra Reddy when he went overground. Accompanied by forces, the DRG picked up the courier from his house on August 13.

"He indulged in miscellaneous work on going home and decided to stay back. It is learnt that he was brutally tortured. He must have informed police about the place where he left Reddy and whoever received him in the chain to his destination. The identity of that person was thus revealed.

“Taking the thread, the police must have accessed the last link in the chain of couriers but it cannot be established conclusively. It must have became easy to reach out to Reddy keeping an eye on the last link,” the statement read.

It was also possible that the resolve of couriers to work for the party weakened as they developed bonds with family, friends and relatives on returning home. 

Reddy had shared his views on "weaknesses" of the courier system with a warning to the central committee about the dangers ahead from it. He had suggested caution against imminent threat from betrayers owing to surrenders. He emphasised on the point in his subsequent letter prior to his death but it was not clear whether the party had received it.

Paying its sincere homage to the slain leaders, the DKSZC also paid tributes to some other CC members who made supreme sacrifices like Modem Balakrishna, Sahadev Soren and DKSZC members Pandu and Vijay and divisional committee cadres Lokesh, Sumitra, Vimala and others. 

The DKSZC extended its condolence to friends and relatives of Satyanarayana Reddy and Ramachandra Reddy. The entire revolutionary camp is concerned at losing two comrades with experience of working in different struggle zones. 

The continuous killing of CPI (Maoist) cadres by the police was a huge loss to the revolutionary movement of the country. The party will fulfill the aspirations of all those who laid down their lives at the call of duty as part of the struggle.

Ramachandra Reddy's son Rajachandra filed a petition in Chhattisgarh high court expressing doubts on the encounter killing of his father. He also lodged a complaint by e-mail with the director general of police, Narayanpur district collector, superintendent of police and district magistrate.

He alleged that the post-mortem on the body was conducted by police without following the legal formalities of 'panchanama'. Villagers of Teegalakuntapalli in Koheda mandal of erstwhile Karimnagar district, the native place of Reddy, held a rally condemning his fake encounter.  

Meanwhile, 71 Maoist cadres surrendered before police in Dantewada district headquarters of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday (September 24), including 21 women, a teenage boy and two teenage girls. Thirty of them had a total reward of Rs. 64 lakhs on their heads. 

As many as 1,113 Maoists have surrendered before police in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh in the last 17 months, police said.

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