Senior Maoist from Telangana Gummadavelli Renuka, alias Bhanu alias Chaiti alias Saraswati, a resident of Kadavendi in Devarupula mandal of Jangaon district, was killed in an encounter that took place on Monday at Nelgoda on the Bajipur border in Bhairanghar limits of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.
The Telangana government had announced a reward of Rs. 20 lakhs and the Chhattisgarh government announced a reward of Rs. 25 lakhs on her. She is the wife of top Maoist and central committee member Sakhamuri Appa Rao, who was killed in an encounter in Nallamala forest in 2010.
Following information from intelligence sources about the presence of Maoists in the forest area on the border of Dantewada and Bijapur districts, CRPF and DRG personnel launched an anti-Naxalite operation. In this process, the Maoists opened fire, but the security personnel retaliated.
After the encounter, the body of a female Naxalite was found at the scene. Officials said that she is Renuka, a member of the Maoist Special Zonal Committee. She is said to be the press team in-charge of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee.
A large number of guns, other weapons and explosives were seized by the security forces from the encounter site. Including the latest encounter, 141 Maoists have been killed by the security forces in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. So far, 346 Maoists have surrendered.
Renuka is the daughter of Gummadavelli Somaiya and Jayamma from Kadavendi. Her elder brother Gummadavelli Venkatakrishna Prasad (GVK Prasad) served as the state leader of the Maoist party and surrendered.
She joined the Maoist party in 1996. She went into hiding following the repression increased after Chandrababu Naidu’s bomb blast in Alipiri. Renuka married senior Maoist leader Sakhamuri Apparao in 2005. Renuka’s death has cast a shadow of sadness over the village. It is learnt that the family members have opted to hold her last rites in Kadavendi.
