A senior Maoist leader who masterminded the 2003 attempt to assassinate then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been gunned down in Andhra Pradesh,  police authorities said on Saturday.
Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad, who headed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Karnataka, was killed in a gun battle with the police near the Dharmavaram railway station in Anantapur district.
Rajamouli, a Central Committee member and Central Military Commission member of Communist Party of India -Maoist, apparently fired at the police.
Rajamouli was accompanied by another man and woman, according to police sources. The woman and the man, who were believed to be his bodyguards, escaped.
Killed in retaliation
Police claimed the policemen fired back in retaliation. The police had to fire at him when he and his associates shoot at them,  killing him on the spot.
None of the policemen was injured added police officials.
The police believe that Rajamouli was the one who masterminded the land mine explosion that almost killed Chandrababu Naidu at Alipiri near Tirupati in 2003.
Mr Chandrababu Naidu luckily had escaped with minor injuries.
Set back for Maoist
Rajamouli’s killing is the latest in a series of setbacks to the Communist Party of India - Maoist, which has lost several leading leaders including its numero uno in Andhra Pradesh last year.
 The killings of top leaders of the Maoist in several states as well as arrests and surrenders of other cadres have considerably weakened the Maoist movement in the Andhra Pradesh and bordering states.
Rajamouli, who carried a reward of Rs 1.2 million on his head, was killed at a time when the Maoists were reportedly planning to regroup in thick Nallamalla forests — their stronghold in Andhra Pradesh .