Veteran Naxalite leader Santosh Rana dies

Veteran Naxalite leader Santosh Rana died of cancer on Saturday at a private hospital in south Kolkata. Rana was 75 and is survived by wife, family sources said.

Born in Gopiballabpur in the undivided Midnapore district of West Bengal in 1944, he studied at the then Presidency College. During the turbulent years of the Naxalite uprise in the state in the '60s and '70s, Rana chose the path of armed revolution and became an ardent follower of the charismatic CPI(ML) leader Charu Mazumdar.

Rana was elected an MLA from his native Gopiballabpur constituency in 1977, while he was in jail. He was also a supporter of Nepalese Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai.

Rana, however, shunned the path of armed revolution in the latter part of his political career. He was also awarded the 'Ananda Puraskar' in 2018 for his political biography 'Rajnitir Ek Jibon'.

Rana's body has been donated for medical research as per his last wish. Various political leaders condoled the death of the Naxalite leader.