Naxal leader Santosh Rana dies at 75

Kolkata: Veteran Naxal leader Santosh Rana, who was suffering from cancer, died on Saturday morning. He was 75 years old.

A brilliant student of Presidency College, Rana left his studies while carrying out his PhD thesis and joined the Naxal movement under Charu Majumdar. He went back to his native village and joined the agrarian movement. Under his leadership, vast areas of undivided Midnapore district which included Debra, Gopiballavpur, Lodhashuli, Nayagram and its adjoining areas in Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand became "virtually liberated."

In early 1970s, he developed differences with Charu Majumdar and joined the Naxalite group led by Satyanarayan Sinha and soon became its leader. He won as an Independent candidate from Gopiballavpur in 1977 but lost in 1982. He will be remembered for his oratory skills and allegiance to the Leftist ideology.

He got the "Ananda Puraskar" for his book Rajnitir Ek Jibon in 2018.