The State on 2 July killed in cold blood Cherukuri Rajkumar, popularly known as Azad, spokesperson of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), along with freelance journalist Hemchandra Pandey.

Azad was supposed to meet a courier at Sitabardi in Nagpur, Maharashtra at 11 am on 1 July to go to Dandakaranya forest from there. The courier returned to the forest after missing him at the appointed time and place. Dead bodies of both – Azad and Pandey – were shown on a hillock in the forest between Jogapur and Sarkepalli villages in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh, about 250 km from Nagpur, with a story of an encounter that took place in the early hours of 2 July. Since the “encounter” stories are very common and Azad is a very important functionary in the Maoist movement, this killing raises several questions that remain unanswered.