Maoist leader RK's last rites performed near Telangana border

Hyderabad, Oct 16 : The last rites of top Maoist leader Akkiraju Haragopal alias RK were performed near Pamedu-Kondapalli on Chhattisgarh-Telangana border on Friday.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist), which confirmed RK's death on Friday, released the photographs of his funeral on Saturday.

A large number of Maoist cadres, some of them armed, attended the last rites. One of the pictures show a woman Maoist sitting next to the body wrapped in red cloth and a group of armed cadres, including women, standing in the background.

RK, a member of the central committee and politburo of CPI (Maoist), died in South Bastar on October 14. A day later, the Maoist party confirmed that the 63-year-old leader died of kidney failure and other ailments.

According to a statement issued by the party's spokesman Abhay, RK died at 6 a.m. on October 14 while undergoing treatment.

Terming RK's death as a big loss, the spokesman said that his last rites were performed amid revolutionaries.

Also known as Saket, Madhu and Srinivas, RK was the in-charge of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) committee of CPI (Maoist).

RK, who was active in the Maoist movement for decades, had led the Maoists in peace talks with the government of then undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004.

He was born in the Palnadu region in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh in 1958. He married Sirisha alias Padma, also a Maoist. Their only son Munna alias Pridhvi was killed in an encounter with the police in 2018 in Ramaguda.

Sirisha surrendered in 2005 and was rehabilitated by the Andhra Pradesh government. She was later arrested by the Odisha Police in Koraput district on November 13, 2010 when she was on her way to meet her husband and son.

Sirisha, who now lives in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, broke down on hearing about RK's death.