Hyderabad: Senior Most Leader of Outlawed CPI (Maoist) Party, Katakam Sudarshan, aka Anand, Mohan, and Birenderji, carrying a reward of over 1 crore, dies due to Illness in Chattisgarh forests
Members of the Maoist party confirmed to the media on Sunday morning that Sudarshan, one of the top nine leaders and a member of the politburo of the CPI (Maoist), died on May 31. The party also released the latest photo of the Maoist leader.
Sudarshan, who held the overall charge of the Naxal movement, was leading the politburo comprising around 14 members after the elimination of Mallojula Koteswara Rao, also known as Kishenji, in November 2011. He played a significant role in Naxal operations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh, particularly in the influential Dantewada area of Chhattisgarh.
Born in Bellampally, Adilabad district, Telangana, Sudarshan pursued a polytechnic course in Warangal before joining the People’s War Group (PWG) in the 1980s. He joined the Naxal movement to fight for the rights of the Adivasis in the northern Telangana region, whom he believed were being exploited. As the outfit’s secretary, Sudarshan tirelessly worked in the field, leading the Maoist movement from north Telangana to the Adivasi-inhabited regions of Dandakaranya in Chhattisgarh.
Sudarshan faced 21 cases, predominantly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with approximately 17 cases filed against him. Most of the charges were under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to murder, and a reward of rupees 1200,000 was offered for his capture.
Sudarshan is believed to have masterminded the Dantewada massacre in 2011, where over 70 CRPF personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush. He is also suspected of planning and executing the attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh in 2013.
A few years ago, Sudarshan’s wife Sadhana, the secretary of Adilabad district in North Telangana, was killed in an encounter. She was a passionate, vocal, and highly skilled comrade. Both Sudarshan and Sadhana joined the Naxal movement through the People’s War group, which later merged with the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI).
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