Maoists confirm two Covid-19 deaths among its senior cadres

Outlawed outfit CPI (Maoist) confirmed deaths of two of their senior cadres due to Covid-19 symptoms in a press note on Thursday. The statement was released by the Maoists’ Telangana committee.

Both Chhattisgarh and Telangana police had earlier in the week released statements about the death of 52-year-old central committee member and secretary of Telangana area Committee of the CPI Maoists, Haribhusan.

In the press note released in Telugu, Maoists confirmed not only the death of Haribhusan or Yapa Narayana, but also informed about the death of Indravati Area Committee member Siddaboina Sarakka alias Bharatakka and Budri, who died of Covid-19 on June 22.

In the press note, the outfit said Haribhusan, who also suffered from asthma and bronchitis, died on June 21 while Bharatakka died the next day.

According to sourcesm, Haribhusan, a resident of a small village in Telangana’s Mehboobnagar district, had studied to become an engineer before joining CPI (Maoist). He was elected as the Telangana state secretary in 2015 and used to operate in the inter-district corridor between Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

According to senior officials in Chhattisgarh police, this is the first time that Maoists have accepted that they have Covid-19 infection amongst their senior cadres. “We have information of several other senior leaders who are infected with the virus. We are trying to confirm the same,” Bastar IG P Sundarraj said.