Saketh Rajan was an ex-student of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. Indian Express says, he paid price for dumping mandolin, picking gun. Is it true? Do we know about him?

Till his death the naxal movement was in low key in Karnataka. His friends used to call him 'Saki'. He had written 'Making history', an English book on the history of Karnataka. NDTV referred to him as "Brilliant mind goes astray".

It is also said that he had not taken part in any `action'--a killing or attack in Naxalite parlance. He worked with his pen, not a gun, though he died from it. He was fluent in both Kannada and English.

It is being said that Franz Fanon's book "The Wretched of The Earth" had a terrible impact on him. I

He was the editor of All India Revolutionary Students Union's national journal. He was a son of an Army Major. He belonged to an affluent Mysore Iyengar family. He was a member of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoists). He led the movement as secretary of the Karnataka State Committee.

Media reports say, he had excelled as an editor, writer, scholar, historian and musician and 'He was working with pen not gun'. He was sensitive to environmental issues and supported the movement to save the Kudremukh forest region. He was writing for several newspapers and had authored a two-volume research effort on Karnataka's history.

In June, 2004, he said, in view of the initiative taken in Andhra Pradesh for a ceasefire and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's view that left-wing extremism in the country is a socio-economic problem.

He was killed in an encounter with the police on Feb 6, 2005) in the jungles of the thick Western Ghats near Chikmagalur. Subsequently, by the police hurriedly cremated his body. It is alleged that the supposed encounter never took place, the police have actually brutally murdered him. The special anti-Naxalite Grey Hound commandos may have hunted him.

Members of 'citizens for peace delegation' lead by revolutionary Telgu poet Gaddar talking to Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh while carrying the ashes of slain Naxal leader Saket Rajan, who was shot dead in Bangalore on February 9, 2005.

On February 11, Maoists attacked the 9th Battalion of Karnataka State Reserve police (KSRP) in Venkammanahalli, Tumkur district, and shot dead a citizen and seven KRSP personnel. The Naxalites did not surface all of a sudden in Karnataka.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has rejected the Karnataka Chief Minister's offer of talks. In a press release of 22 February 2005, the Maoists claimed responsibility for killing seven policemen at Venkatammanahalli in Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district and said the attack was to avenge the killing of the naxalite leader, Saket Rajan, and his associate, Shivalingu, in Menasinahadya of Chikmagalur district.

BBC reported, the attack came five days after a top Maoist leader, Saket Rajan, was killed in what the police described as an "encounter" in Karnataka. The chief minister of Karnataka Dharam Singh has ordered an investigation into Rajan's killing after human rights activists charged the police with faking the "encounter".

In Andhra Prdesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu, in nine years as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, had refused to talk till the Naxalites gave up arms.

After defeating Naidu and taking over as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, in May 2004, Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said, I don't want to become another N Chandrababu Naidu." He made history by inviting the Naxal groups to the negotiation table to put an end to the 35-year-old blood-soaked armed struggle in Andhra Pradesh, naxalites of two major organisations, the CPI (Maoist) and the CPI-ML (Janasakthi), signed a ceasefire pact with the state government, which was meant to spell a new chapter in the security scenario of the state.

Ceasefire which was announced by both parties, soon after the government lifted the ban on the two revolutionary organisations on July 21, 2004.
The two revolutionary organisations, Peoples' War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Center of India (MCCI) merged into the CPI-Maoist in October 2004. In October, 2004 naxals rejected Reddy's proposal for a five-year truce.

Now its back to war both naxalite and police since December 2004, when the tenuous extension of the ceasefire agreed between Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the Maoists finally lapsed.

On 6th March 2005, Reddy said the State Government had not yet taken any decision on re-imposition of ban on CPI(Maoists), but stressed that maintenance of law and order would be his top priority.