An eerie silence has gripped the Velishala village of Bhupalapally in Jaishankar district of Telangana as the people were discussing the latest news in hushed tones.
They are watching the television news and discussions with a sense of déjà vu. All the eyes and ears were focused on one name a local lad called Garajala Ravi alias Uday, one of the top Maoist leaders killed in a bloody encounter in far off Malkangiri district of Odisha.
Ravi was the last member of Garajala family to be active in Maoist movement, more than a quarter of century after their tryst with the left wing violence began.
Ravi, who had started as a left wing extremist sympathiser in 1990 while studying in ITI in Hanmakonda town. As a hot headed young man he had hoisted the naxalites flag in the ITI leading to his arrest. It spurred his elder brother Saraiah alias Azad to join the under ground movement. Eventually four of the five brothers became the member of the CPIMl (Peoples War Group) which was later merged to form the CPI Maoist. Only one brother Sammaiah remained outside the movement. Azad , who rose in the ranks to become the member of the highest policy making body Central Committee as well as Central Military Commission was killed in an encounter in 2008 in an encounter in Eturanagaram forest of Warangal district.
Youngest Ashok alias Itu, an expert in military warfare and an ace organizer had surrendered before the police in Warangal last year and is staying with his eldest brother in Hanmakonda.
45 year old Ravi had served in various positions in the naxalite movement in Telangana, Andhra and Odisha state committees and was member of the AP-Odisha Special Zone Committee.