<p>Azad, who was also spokesperson of the outlawed group, was killed in a gunfight with police around 3 a.m. in the forests near Jogapur in Adilabad district, about 300 km from here, police said.<br /><br />Another Maoist guerrilla, who is yet to be identified, was also killed. Police also recovered an AK-47, a 9 mm pistol and two kit bags from the scene of the alleged gunfight.<br /><br />Azad's killing is a major blow to the Maoist outfit as he was considered the second key leader in the party hierarchy after politburo member Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji.<br /><br />He carried a reward of Rs.12 lakh on his head and was a member of the politburo politburo of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). Hailing from Krishna district, he was associated with the Maoist movement for four decades.<br />The police, however, did not give details of the incident.<br /><br />Officials said Azad was involved in dozens of murders, including the killing of Congress legislator Narsa Reddy and a failed assassination attempt on former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy.<br /><br />The CPI-Maoist has alleged that Azad was killed in a staged shootout. The outlawed outfit has said police picked up Azad in Nagpur, Maharashtra, brought him to Adilabad and killed him.<br /><br />Maoist sympathiser and revolutionary writer Varavara Rao said here that he would approach the high court against the "fake encounter" and seek that cases be filed against the policemen involved.<br /><br />This comes as the second biggest blow to Maoist movement after the arrest of London-educated leader and ideologue Kobad Ghandy in New Delhi last year.<br /><br />Like Ghandy, Azad was also seen as the intellectual face of the outfit. Azad, who did his MTech in Warangal, used to write articles for magazines on Maoist ideology.<br /><br />Following Azad's death, security agencies have sounded a high alert in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhatttisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.<br /><br />Azad was gunned down by police two days after Maoists killed 27 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Chhattisgarh.<br /></p>
<p>Azad, who was also spokesperson of the outlawed group, was killed in a gunfight with police around 3 a.m. in the forests near Jogapur in Adilabad district, about 300 km from here, police said.<br /><br />Another Maoist guerrilla, who is yet to be identified, was also killed. Police also recovered an AK-47, a 9 mm pistol and two kit bags from the scene of the alleged gunfight.<br /><br />Azad's killing is a major blow to the Maoist outfit as he was considered the second key leader in the party hierarchy after politburo member Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji.<br /><br />He carried a reward of Rs.12 lakh on his head and was a member of the politburo politburo of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). Hailing from Krishna district, he was associated with the Maoist movement for four decades.<br />The police, however, did not give details of the incident.<br /><br />Officials said Azad was involved in dozens of murders, including the killing of Congress legislator Narsa Reddy and a failed assassination attempt on former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy.<br /><br />The CPI-Maoist has alleged that Azad was killed in a staged shootout. The outlawed outfit has said police picked up Azad in Nagpur, Maharashtra, brought him to Adilabad and killed him.<br /><br />Maoist sympathiser and revolutionary writer Varavara Rao said here that he would approach the high court against the "fake encounter" and seek that cases be filed against the policemen involved.<br /><br />This comes as the second biggest blow to Maoist movement after the arrest of London-educated leader and ideologue Kobad Ghandy in New Delhi last year.<br /><br />Like Ghandy, Azad was also seen as the intellectual face of the outfit. Azad, who did his MTech in Warangal, used to write articles for magazines on Maoist ideology.<br /><br />Following Azad's death, security agencies have sounded a high alert in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhatttisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.<br /><br />Azad was gunned down by police two days after Maoists killed 27 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Chhattisgarh.<br /></p>