Garla Ravi gives the slip

​Vijayawada: Garla Ravi, a top-notch Maoist heading the Andhra Orissa Border (AoB), proved the initial theories floated by the police and media over his killing in the fierce gun battle in the Malkangiri forests wrong by giving them a slip.

The police, in an initial euphoria, divulged details of the encounter deaths to the media, highlighting the killing of Ravi. But the police the next day failed to establish the identity of Ravi. A senior official involved in the offensive told The Hans India that the police tried to verify all the 24 bodies of the militants with a photograph of Ravi on hand. “We could identify 15 of the 24 victims and it was found that neither of them was proved to be that of Ravi.

Even as eight more bodies are yet to be identified, we got information that he managed to escape from the encounter scene under security cover,” the officer said.The media was quick to weave stories soon after the encounter that the road to naxalism for the 4-member family of Ravi from Velishala village in Warangal district came to an end with his killing.

One of his brothers, Tammaiah was killed in an encounter sometime back. His another brother Ashok, leader of the special zonal committee, surrendered to the police in Gadchroli area. Going by the media coverage, the Ravi’s birth place plunged into eerie silence with a pall of gloom descending over his house.

Ravi is allegedly responsible for all the major operations against the police, including the one at Balimela in which 34 APSP commandos lost their lives in 2008. In a similar manner, Chalapati alias Appa Rao, a native of Chittoor district, reportedly escaped unhurt. However, his wife Aruna, who was sister of Azad, fell to the police bullets.

Intelligence sources said Daya alias Chamalla Krishnaiah, leader of the Srikakulam Koraput Division committee, Bakuri Venkataramana alias Ganesh of East Visakha Division Committee, Tech Madhu alias Inapati Das, a native of West Godavari district and an active member of the CPI (Maoist)’s technical team, Gamella Kesava Rao alias Birsu and first commander of the party’s central reserve company,

Latha, wife of Mahendra, member of the special zonal committee, and Munna, alias Sivaji alias Pridvi, RK’s 28-year-old son and head of the Local guerilla squad of the `cut-off-area’ were among the 15 encounter deaths. Bakuri Venkataramana, who played key role in kidnapping of Vineel Krishna in the Malkangiri district, is said to be inactive for sometime as he is a chronic diabetic with visual impairment.

Meanwhile, a helicopter was engaged to airlift over half-a-dozen commandos who got stuck at the encounter site after receiving grievous wounds on Tuesday.

When the make-shift helipad site was getting sanitized to ensure safety from the injured commandos, a fresh encounter allegedly took place, killing another four militants. With this, the toll reached 28, the police sources said.