Nambala Keshava Rao

Nambala Keshava Rao, also known as Basavaraju, was a prominent Maoist leader and the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). An engineer by training, he had been on the most wanted list of India’s National Investigation Agency for his role in the long-running insurgency in Chhattisgarh, which has seen significant violence and loss of life over the decades. His recent death in a gunfight with Indian security forces marked a significant blow to the Maoist movement, being the first killing of a leader of his seniority in three decades.