Who Is 1 Cr Bounty Maoist Chalapati?

The government of India has been going really hard against the left-wing extremism over the last decade or so. In this context, a major cleanup activity happened in the dense forest region of Chhattisgarh last night and this resulted in the killing of one of the most significant names in the Maoist ranks – Chalapati.

Jayaram Reddy, who had multiple alias names, including Ramachandra Reddy, Apparao, Appu and others is most famous by his most infamous avatar – Chalapati. He was one of the highest ranked fighters in the Maoist movement.

Chalapati was a native of the Madanapalle area in Chittoor district. Though not a lot is known about his personal life, it is primarily established that he studied till class 10 and was aged around 60 by the time he was killed by trained forces last night.

He was an integral member of the Central committee in the Maoist movement, which is often regarded as one of the highest ranks in the hierarchy. He was an integral part of the decision-making body of the movement and had a security fleet of 8-10 fighters around him, which is a rarity in the movement. He also had an advanced AK-47 in his arsenal as he was a protected member of the group.

The government had already announced rupees one crore bounty on Chalapati, signifying his importance and the kind of weightage that he carried.

Last night, during an exchange of fire, Chalapati and 18 other maoists were eliminated by District Reserve Guard, Central Reserve Police Force, CoBRA commandoes from Chhattisgarh, and the Special Operation Group from Odisha.

The encounter happened at Kularighat reserve forest of Chhattisgarh, about 5 km from the Odisha border. It happened to be one of the most significant cleanup drives against the left-wing extremism.

Born in the Telugu heartland, Chalapathi was a gun member of the Maoist movement and his elimination comes as a significant blow to the group.