An eerie silence descended on Velishala village in the district on Monday as the news of yet another son of the soil who took to the revolutionary path of the Maoists was killed in an ‘encounter’ in the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border.
Gajarla Ravi (49) alias Ganesh alias Anand alias Uday went underground in 1990 and has been associated with the extremist outfit for the past 26 years. His two other siblings – Gajarla Saraiah alias Azad and Gajarla Ashok alias Aithu also worked for the Maoist party. Azad was killed in an encounter in 2008, while Ashok surrendered to the police some time back.
Many youth from this village were drawn into the armed movement including the three Gajarla brothers.
Ravi completed his intermediate and ITI and joined the Maoist party at the age of 23 years.
He worked in various capacities in the party and moved up the ranks, now holding a key position. Presently, he was associated with Andhra-Odisha special zonal committee.
He was gunned down by the police in an encounter in the wee hours on Monday in Andhra – Odisha border in Malkangiri district of the neighbouring State.
His elder brother Gajarla Saraiah, a member of the Central Military Commission and Central Committee of CPI Maoist was shot dead in Kanthalapally forest area in Warangal in April 2008.
One of the top Maoist leaders Gajerla Ashok (41) alias Aithu, considered an expert in military warfare and a skilled organiser, had surrendered before the Warangal police in 2015.
