Kin of slain Maoist await arrival of her mortal remains from Chhattisgarh

The grieving family members and relatives of Gummadivelli Renuka alias Bhanu, the 50-year-old slain senior Maoist, are eagerly waiting for the arrival of her mortal remains to bid an adieu to her at her native Kadavendi village in Telangana’s Jangaon district. 

Renuka, who had gone underground in 1996, emerged as one of the key women Maoist leaders during her nearly 29-year stint as a revolutionary in the underground movement in Dandakaranya forest region in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. She held crucial posts in the banned CPI (Maoist) as its Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) member and the Central Regional Bureau (CRB) press team in-charge until her death in an ‘encounter’ in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar region on Monday.

Renuka, who pursued LLB course, got attracted to the naxal movement and subsequently joined the then banned People’s War Group (PWG) in the mid-1990s. She played an active role in bringing out revolutionary literature and printing various magazines of the proscribed outfit in the underground movement, sources said. The deceased Maoist carried rewards of ₹25 lakh and ₹20 lakh on her head in Chhattisgarh and Telangana, respectively.

Another senior Maoist from the erstwhile Warangal district, identified as Ankesarapu Saraiah alias Sudhakar, a DKSZC member, died in an exchange of fire with the security forces in Chhattisgarh on March 25 this year. The outlawed outfit suffered a major jolt with the death of its two senior leaders in less than 10 days.

Meanwhile, the body of Renuka is expected to arrive in Kadavendi from Chhattisgarh late on Tuesday night.