The recent arrest of Vanthala Ramakrishna alias Ashok alias Prabhakar and the surrender of 60 Maoist operatives, including 33 party members and 27 hardcore militia members, have delivered a fatal blow to the Maoist movement in the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) region.
Ashok, a resident of Kondrum village of Injari panchayat in Pedabayalu, a Maoist hotbed in AOB, was the secretary of the Pedabayalu-Korukonda area committee of the Maoist party. He was arrested by the police of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. The revival of the movement largely depended on him. In fact, as per intelligence reports, a few leaders who have gone into hiding in Chhattisgarh, were planning to come back during the monsoon season when the forest is verdant and security forces are forced to lie low because of inclement weather. But Ashok’s arrest and the surrender of 60 Maoists affects their return, especially since the militia network of Injari panchayat has collapsed. The Maoists have been surviving in this region thanks to tribal leaders and the militia network. Both are gone now, claimed a senior officer of the State Intelligence Bureau (Extremism).
The Alluri Sitharama Raju district in Andhra Pradesh and areas such as Chitrakonda and Malkangiri of Odisha have been the most preferred areas for left-wing extremists after Chhattisgarh in the AOB region.
