New Delhi: In a major breakthrough in the long-standing battle against Left-Wing Extremism in the country, security forces have neutralised one of the most elusive and senior Maoist leaders—Nambala Keshava Rao, famously known as Basava Raju.
He was among the 26 Naxals killed in an encounter in the dense forests of Abujhmad in Chhattisgarh. Abujhmad the last fortress of the Maoists is an unsurveyed stretch of land larger than the state of Goa.
A bright student with B Tech degree
Basava Raju (70) was a native of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh. A bright student and a kabaddi player during his school and college days, Basava graduated with a B Tech from the Regional Engineering College (REC), now known as NIT Warangal. According to an Indian Express report, REC was at that time was a breeding ground for radical leftist thought. Basava also served as the president of the college’s students’ union and was active in the Radical Students Union.
A landmark achievement in the battle to eliminate Naxalism. Today, in an operation in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, our security forces have neutralized 27 dreaded Maoists, including Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, the general secretary of CPI-Maoist, topmost leader, and the…
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 21, 2025
Drawn to the People’s War Group (PWG) in the early 1980s, Raju went underground by 1985 and quickly rose through the ranks. After the merger of PWG and the Maoist Communist Centre in 2004, forming the CPI (Maoist), Raju continued to play a major role. In 2018, he succeeded Ganapathy (Muppala Lakshman Rao) as the general secretary of the party and became the ideological and military head of the banned outfit.
Masterminded some of the deadliest attacks
Raju masterminded some of the deadliest attacks against security forces. He was instrumental in 2010 Chintalnar massacre in Dantewada, where 76 CRPF personnel were killed, and the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush, which targeted a Congress convoy and led to the deaths of several senior state leaders. He also allegedly orchestrated the killings of TDP MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and ex-MLA Siveri Soma in 2018.
Known for his expertise in explosives and guerrilla warfare, Basava Raju was the National Investigation Agency’s most wanted man, with a bounty of over Rs 1 crore. Intelligence officials describe his death as a severe setback to the Maoist movement, particularly in Telugu-speaking regions. His unique ability to bridge the northern and southern command structures, combined with his ideological leadership, made him irreplaceable.
