Maoist leader from Telangana arrested in Chattisgarh

Hyderabad: A Maoist leader from Karimnagar district in Telangana was arrested on Monday, December 22, in Chattisgarh.

Identified as Balmuri Narayana Rao, the Maoist leader is popularly known as Prabhakar. Rao was underground for over 40 years and is a close relative of a top Naxal leader, Muppala Lakshmana Rao, who was the general secretary of the CPI (Maoist). Lakshmana Rao also hails from Birpur village.

He was in charge of the Mobile Political School (MOPOS) of the Maoist party, known for its contribution to the indoctrination of Maoist ideology among youngsters. He was also working in the Dandakaranya Special Committee (DKSZC).

Prabhakar joined the then CPI-ML People’s War (PW) in 1984 as a party member and was in undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1984 to 1994. He was then moved to Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. Later he was sent to North Bastar and Koyalibeda areas and was active in that area from 1998 to 2005.

From 2005-2007, he headed the DKSZC supply team and Urban Network from 2005-2007. Prabhakar then became active in the Manpur-Mohla area (Rajnandgaon) from 2007-2008. A reward of Rs 25 lakh had been announced on him by the Chhattisgarh government. He reportedly operated in different stations including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.