Wanted for 20 years, Karnataka’s underground Naxal leader Vikram Gowda killed in encounter in Udupi

According to police sources, Vikram Gowda, 44, was among a group of eight remaining underground Naxals from Karnataka. With his death, there are seven members of whom four are women. Latha or Mundgaru Latha is among the underground Naxals still wanted by the police along with Angadi Pradeep.

The police said Vikram Gowda visited the Kabbinale village Monday night with his team to collect groceries. Based on information, ANF attacked him and as the Naxals opened fire, the police responded leading to Vikram Gowda’s death, they added. He had a bounty of Rs 3 lakh announced by Karnataka, and that of Rs 50,000 from Kerala.

“Last evening, there was an encounter after he was located, and he died in the firing and return firing. We have information that three Naxals escaped after Vikram Gowda was shot. ANF is continuing its searches in the region,” Parameshwara said about his death — the first of a Naxal in over two decades in Karnataka.

The first major Naxal-police encounter in Karnataka took place in 2003. On November 17, 2003, two women Naxalites — Sumathi, 24, and Usha, 23, were killed in an encounter with the police near Idu in Karkala in Udupi district.

“Vikram Gowda, a dreaded Naxal, has been wanted for 20 years, and our people (police) were carrying out efforts to locate him. He escaped in several encounters earlier. He was active as a Naxal and constantly moving between states,” he said.

The Karnataka home minister said two Naxals Raju and Latha were sighted last week. “The operations are on to find them and suddenly they came upon this group,” he said. “The government is extending its support to those who drop their weapons and surrender before the state to rebuild their lives in the mainstream,” he added.

Vikram Gowda went underground in 2002 after initially being aligned with Naxal activities as a courier and fund collector in the forests around his home in the Western Ghats in Dakshina Kannada. He studied only till Class 4, and was involved in tribal rights activism, sources said. He was reportedly leading a breakaway group of Naxals.

Naxal activities in Karnataka have been almost negligible since 2018 when the group was reduced to a mere 19 members who reportedly moved to neighbouring Kerala and Tamil Nadu. However, there have been reports of the revival of Naxal activities in Karnataka in recent months.

In March this year, the Kodagu and Hassan police initiated investigations after evidence of Naxal movements in the forests of the Western Ghats in Karnataka. Police units were deployed on the Kodagu-Kerala border and in the Hassan district. “They moved to Karnataka from Kerala in February,” said a police source.

Reports suggested Naxals approached remote villages seeking help to fight for the poor and Vikram Gowda was spotted in a village under the Kodagu district in February.

In March, the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the Congress government after reports of Vikram Gowda-led group’s entry into the state’s forests. “After Siddaramaiah came to power, the Naxals, who were nowhere to be found, have come to Karnataka to hide. As Congress is in power, they believe that they can carry out terror activities safely,” the Karnataka BJP alleged on social media.

In 2021, Vikram Gowda’s ex-wife Savitri, 35, was also arrested after B G Krishnamurthy was nabbed by the Kerala police. Savitri, alias Rajita alias Usha, was the Kabini Dalam commander and Area Committee member who was part of the Naxals since 2004.

In recent years, as many as 14 Naxals have entered the mainstream under a rehabilitation policy started by the Congress party during its previous tenure in 2013.