Telangana top Maoist Bade Chokka Rao among 17 killed in Chhattisgarh

Hyderabad: The Communist Party of India (Maoist) officially declared on Saturday, January 18, that Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar, who has been serving as CPI (Maoist) Telangana state committee secretary for the past couple of years, has been killed in the fierce encounter which claimed 17 lives of Maoists in Pujari Kanker-Murudbaka forests of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on January 16.

Chokka Rao, a native of Kaluvapally village of Tadwai mandal in the Mulugu district of Telangana, had been working for the Maoists for the past 30 years and had a bounty of Rs 2 crore. He also served as the military chief of the Maoist party and was an expert in planning attacks and devising military strategies.

He was 44 years old when he was killed.

With the passing away of former Telangana state committee secretary Haribhushan due to COVID-19 in June 2021, the Maoist party’s central committee appointed Chokka Rao to head Telangana’s state committee.

Chokka Rao’s wife Rajitha too was serving in the Maoist party till she was arrested by police in 2023.