Hyderabad, Jan. 18 -- The Communist Party of India (Maoist) officially declared on Saturday, January 18, that Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar, who has been serving as CPI (Maoist) Telangana state committee secretary for the past couple of years, has been killed in the fierce encounter which claimed 17 lives of Maoists in Pujari Kanker-Murudbaka forests of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on January 16.

Chokka Rao, a native of Kaluvapally village of Tadwai mandal in the Mulugu district of Telangana, had been working for the Maoists for the past 30 years and had a bounty of Rs 2 crore. He also served as the military chief of the Maoist party and was an expert in planning attacks and devising military strategies.

He was 44 years old when he w...