A top-ranking member of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist was killed in an encounter with the police in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh on late on Friday night.

According to the police, CPI-Maoist central committee member Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad was killed in an exchange of fire with a special police party in the vicinity of Dharmavaram railway station at 10 pm.

The special police spotted a group of three Maoists moving near the tracks in the area. When the police questioned them, they started running and opened fire.

The police returned the fire, killing Rajamouli on the spot. Two other Maoists, including a woman cadre, managed to escape in the cover of darkness. Police seized a 9-mm pistol and a .38 revolver from the slain Maoist leader.

The police termed the killing of the 47-year-old Rajamouli as a severe blow to Maoists and claimed that the top leadership of Maoists in Rayalaseema region has almost been wiped out.

Rajamouli was also a member of CPI-Maoist central military commission and ranked number two in the hierarchy after central committee secretary Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathi. He was also Karnataka state committee secretary of CPI-Maoist.

Rajamouli carried a reward of Rs 16 lakh on his head and was involved in 120 major crimes in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

He was also the mastermind behind the Alipiri landmine blast in October 2003 in which former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had a miraculous escape.

Rajamouli, who hailed from Gudem village in Odela mandal in Karimnagar district, started as an activist of the Radical Student Union of CPI-ML (People's War) 25 years ago.

He worked as Peddapalli and Husnabad dalam (armed squad) commander, Karimnagar district committee member and secretary and North Telangana special zonal committee secretary.

He also played a key role in spreading Maoist movement in Dandakaranya region that straddles AP, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and other states.

His wife Nelakonda Rajitha alias Padmakka, secretary of Nizamabad-Karimnagar district committee, was killed in an encounter with police in Karimnagar district in July 2002.