After Two Decades, Naxal Leader Gajarla Ashok aka Aitu Surrenders

Aitu is prominent for his ambushes in 2009 in Laheri, during which 17 policemen died.

Gajarla Ashok alias Aitu on Tuesday surrendered before the Chhattisgarh police in Warangal, Telangana. Aitu, a ‘Dandakaranyam Maoist Committee’ member, turned-in before DIG B Malla Reddy, a police official said.

A native of Velishala village in the district, Aitu took inspiration from his brother Gajarla Saaraiah alias Aazaadh and joined the outlawed CPI-ML Maoists in 1991.

Initially, he worked with Thakkallapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Aasanna for Warangal town and then worked in Palakurthi, Bhoopalpally, Ghanpur (Station), he said.

He was also a member of several maoist committees in Telangana. From 2008 till date he was working as Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee member, the officer added. Police said, prima facie health problems could be the reason behind Aithu’s surrender.

Senior journalist and author of Hello Bastar has been tweeting snippets of the naxal leader’s history since the news broke.

One of his prominent ambushes was in 2009 in Laheri, 17 policemen died. Aitu said their main target was Rama, a police commando (C-60 force)

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

Aitu and 17 of his men followed Rama and his 41 men in the forest for 2 days, eating only sattu. Finally they encountered each other

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

Aitu is a military strategist, lost the thumb of his right finger in a grenade blast long ago.

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

"Purana accident hai. Bam fatt gaya tha haath mein," he told me how he had lost that thumb. Over the next few days we spoke non-stop.

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

I met Aitu in 2010 by a very angry river on Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border. He sat on a blue tarpaulin sheet, next to senior leader Narmada

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

Aitu's two brothers are Maoists, too. One, Azad (not Cherukuri Rajkumar) was allegedly killed by Police in cold blood with his wife in 2008

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

"They were arrested from Kolhapur, then taken to the jungles of Andhra and shot dead," Aitu told me. His other brother Ravi is senior leader

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) December 29, 2015

(With inputs from PTI.)