A band of eight that calls the shots

NEW DELHI: Maoists, who have killed over 1,200 security personnel across the country in the past six years, are currently managed by a band of eight top leaders whose whereabouts are not known to security agencies.

Though the ultras have an armed contingent of nearly 11,000, they have many more unarmed cadre and get the support of over-ground workers living not only in tribal villages of Naxal-affected states but also in cities. The group of eight leaders, who make up the CPI (Maoist) politburo, is headed by the elusive Muppala Laxmana Rao alias Ganapathi, a 60-year-old science graduate from Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh.

Although the politburo had 14 members, security forces have either arrested or killed six of them in the past three years. The senior-most among those arrested is Kobad Ghandy who is currently in jail in Delhi. The central committee of the Maoists, having 32 members, is the body which takes command from politburo and passes on strategic information to the cadre through different channels. The hierarchy comprises zonal committees (looking after twothree states), state-level committees, district wing, area commander and dalam (the basic unit of armed cadre).

Although the ultras have, of late, been successful in manufacturing their own arms including cloned AK-series rifles, their arsenal mainly comprises looted police weapons. The entire operations are financed by extortion money which the politburo and central committees raise by charging levy on contractors in all Naxalaffected states.