New Delhi:
Senior Maoist leader Cherikuri Rajkumar alias Azad, killed on July 2, was in Delhi for four months, sources have told NDTV. Azad was reportedly in touch with academics in Delhi who were helping him with logistics. (
Read: Andhra Pradesh: Two top Maoist leaders killed in encounter)
Investigations have also revealed that the Maoists have a Chinese connection that goes beyond just their name - that's the angle that security forces are now pursuing.
Sources have told NDTV that Maoists went to Yunan in China and possibly were trained there as well. However, there's no evidence to suggest the involvement of the Chinese establishment in this, it could have been the mafia.
Meanwhile, the Maoists have tied up with banned Manipuri terror outfit Revolutionary People's Front, which is helping Maoists with training and logistics.
Azad was believed to be the most powerful man in the CPI (Maoist) after party supremo Ganapathy.
Azad, a member of the CPI (Maoists) politburo, as also a spokesperson for the insurgents, spent 20 years leading the insurgency. The Andhra police had offered 12 lakhs as a reward for information that could help locate him.
Azad was finally tracked down in the Jogapur forests on the Andhra-Maharashtra border.
Azad was allegedly involved in the killing of Congress MLA Narsi Reddy in Andhra, along with nine others, on Independence Day in 2005 - that led to the re-imposition of the ban on the Maoists in Andhra.
A couple of weeks before the encounter, Azad and Swami Agnivesh exchanged letters to discuss the possibility of peace talks with the Centre.