Jairam Reddy alias Chalapati, who was gunned down along with 13 other rebels near the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border on Monday night, had orchestrated several attacks on security forces and carried a reward of ₹1 crore on his head.

A central committee member of the CPI(Maoist), Chalapati, 62, was a ruthless commander and an expert in guerrilla warfare tactics and military strategy, sources in the security establishment said.

Chalapati’s tactical expertise, leadership skills and ability to mobilise resources inside Abujhmad forest — the impregnable Maoist hotbed — earned him notoriety as one of the most wanted Naxalites in the Chhattisgarh-Odisha-Andhra zone.

The Maoist leader had relocated his base a few months ago from Abujhmad to the Gariaband-Odisha border in the wake of a counter-offensive launched by the security forces.

A senior police officer in Odisha said: “Chalapati had managed to escape last time when an anti-Maoist operation was underway in the Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh axis, which has emerged as thenew flashpoint of extremist activities.”

An Intelligence Bureau official said the security forces in 2018 got their first lead on how Chalapati looked when they found a photograph of him with his wife on a laptop belonging to a Maoist leader who was killed in an encounter in Visakhapatnam.

“He had faced the ire of his seniors because of his romance with Aruna, a deputy commander in the AOB-SZC. He was suspended for nearly a year for entering into a relationship by violating the code of conduct. Later, he married Aruna,” the IB official said.

Associated with the Maoist movement for nearly 50 years, Chalapati was said to have been inspired by Chinesecommunist leader Mao Zedong in his teens. A school dropout, he was later drawn to the ideology of the People’s War Group (PWG) of the CPI (Marxist Leninist).

Hailing from Matempaipally village in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, Chalapati rose through the Maoist ranks despite little formal education.

“Chalapati could assume a leadership role because of his use of guerrilla warfare tactics and knowledge of military strategy. He was known for his leadership qualities. His importance in the Maoist network was highlighted by a security detail of 10-12 personal guards,” said a security official attached to the Union home ministry.

The official added that the bounty’s value also spoke volumes about how important a target he was for the security forces.

“Chalapati was always armed with advanced weapons such as AK-47s and SLR rifles. He was a frontline leader who played a crucial role in making strategies and leading operations,” the official said.

In 2000, Chalapati was elevated as a special zonal committee member and inducted into the State Military Commission of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOB-SZC).

The Maoists Central Military Commission tasked Chalapati with planning high-profile assaults and inducting recruits. Over three decades, he allegedly planned and led attacks in the border areas of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Chalpati was the planner and executor of some major ambushes in which high-ranking police officers were killed.

“Let me be clear that he was behind every major ambush. He was the chief strategist for the Maoists,” a senior police officer in Odisha said.

Chalapati was the brain behind the September 23, 2018, attack that killed TDP MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former Araku MLA Siveri Soma in Andhra Pradesh’s Araku valley.

The IB official said the slain Maoist leader had in the past 20 years given momentum to the Maoist movement and had considerable influence in parts of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

“He was a very important and key cadre and security forces were searching for him for a very long time,” he said.

His death, he said, would severely affect the Maoist movement not only in Chhattisgarh but also across India.

“He was a ruthless commander who launched deadly operations against the security forces,” the IB official said.

Additional reporting by Subhashish Mohanty