India’s Most Wanted Man

Muppala Laxmana Rao alias Ganapathi Born in 1949 in a middle-class Velama family of Karimnagar

Time Line

• 1979-81: Schoolteacher turned Pedappali squad ­commander

• 1985: Karimnagar district committee secretary

• 1987: Secretary, Andhra state committee, CPI(ML)(PW)

• 1991: Member, CPI(ML)(PW) central committee

• 1992: General secretary, CPI(ML)(PW)

• 2000: People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army formed

• 2004: General secretary, CPI(Maoist), after merger with MCC

• First Wife Vijaya didn’t join him in the forests

• Son Raju, an engineer, studied or settled in the US

• Second Wife Saraswathi alias Sujatha is from ­Mahbubnagar and a member of the ­Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee

“It wasn’t a rift or a coup. By 1986, Kondapalli Seetharamaiah was too old and couldn’t deal with factions or splits. Young ­leaders such as Ganapathi, Shyam and Azad had emerged, who felt he could no longer guide the party and had become a hurdle in its ­expansion. It was a joint ­decision to sideline him in ’87 and later expel him in ’93.”

VaraVara Rao, Ideologue and writer

“An old Telugu mason who surrendered in March 2016 told us Ganapathi lives in a bunker of 5-6 rooms built deep in the jungles of Abujmarh, safe from even air attacks. Some 50-60 armed rebels guard him. Diabetic and arthritic, he has a doctor named ‘Raouf’ by his side.”

Kalyan Elesela SP, Spl. Intel. Branch, Chhattisgarh

Text: Prasad Nichenametla, Graphics by Deepak Sharma, Sajith