Widow blames police for Maoist-husband's death

Sireesha, the widow of deceased CPI (Maoist) top leader Akkiraju Haragopal alias RK, on Friday said her husband died only because he did not have access to proper medicare as the police surrounded the forest area in Chhattisgarh where he was holed up.

“This is also a government killing, not due to ill-health,” the wailing widow told reporters at her native village in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.

She contradicted a statement issued by the Maoist Central Committee that said it could not save RK despite making good medical treatment available for his kidney ailment.

“How could he get treatment? He died only because he could not get timely medicare. There was no way for him to come out of the forest as it was completely surrounded by the police," Sireesha said.

She, however, maintained that she was unaware of the facts.

Sireesha, who was also an active member of the Maoist (erstwhile People’s War Group), said her husband always worked for the people.

“People like RK are very rare, even in the (Maoist) party. He was a disciplined and committed leader who always fought for the wellbeing of the masses,” Sireesha added.

Revolutionary Writers’ Association leader Kalyana Rao, who had close acquaintance with the Maoist top leader, said RK would always remain in people’s hearts, though he was physically no more.

He too said RK could not get proper medical treatment because of the police camps around the forest.

Akkiraju Haragopal (63) was born in the Palnadu area of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

A post-graduate, he initially followed the footsteps of his father and became a teacher but subsequently drifted to a revolutionary path in 1978 inspired by the tales of the Naxalbari movement.

He rose in ranks in the then PWG and became a state committee member in 1992.

Subsequently, he led the PWG in south Telangana region for four years before getting elevated as the State secretary in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh in 2000 and went on to become the Central Committee member a year later.

He led the PWG in peace talks initiated by the then Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in October 2004 but later went underground again after the talks went nowhere.

Till 2014, RK worked as the CPI (Maoist) Andhra-Odisha Border Committee secretary. He became the Maoist Central politburo member in 2018 and had been guiding the outlaws' movement in the border area.

His son Prudhvi, also a Maoist, was killed in an exchange of fire with the police in Odisha in 2018. RK himself escaped the police dragnet several times but his health deteriorated in recent years, according to the Maoist Central Committee spokesman Abhay.

He died in the early hours of October 14, Abhay said in the statement.