Social media platforms were abuzz on Tuesday with unconfirmed reports that CPI (Maoist) Telangana State committee secretary Haribhushan alias Yapa Narayana died either due to COVID-19 or suspected food poisoning in Chhattisgarh’s Dandakaranya forest region.
Haribhushan hails from Marriguda village in Telangana’s Mahabubabad district. He joined the then People’s War Group (PWG) in 1995 and was subsequently elevated to top ranks in the proscribed CPI (Maoist) before taking over the reins of the outfit’s Telangana State committee, sources said.
Social media posts in Hindi made rounds on several WhatsApp groups showing the photograph of Haribushan and claiming that he succumbed to either coronavirus infection or suspected food poisoning somewhere in Dandakaranya in Chhattisgarh on Monday afternoon.
The reports, citing Chhattisgarh police sources, further claimed that more than a dozen senior Maoist cadres are critically ill in the forest region.
Maoists have not issued any statement in this regard till Tuesday night, sources added.
While renewing their appeal to the Maoist rebels to surrender, police have consistently been maintaining that a host of senior Maoist leaders are afflicted with COVID-19.
In a statement issued earlier this month, the CPI (Maoist) rebutted police claims terming them as a “false propaganda.”
