Alluri Sitaramaraju (July 4,1897-May 7,1924) also called Alluri Ramachandra Raju was the freedom fighter from Vizag. He was the leader of the ill-fated "Rampa Rebellion" that was fought against the British from 1922 to 1923. Popularly referred to as ‘Raju’, he lives on in the hearts of the Telugu people as the Manyam Veerudu ('hero of the jungles'). Raju was born on July 4, 1897 in Pandrangi village in the Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh to a Telugu Kshatriya family. His mother was from Visakhapatnam and his father was a native of Mogallu, near Bhimavaram, and was an official photographer in the central jail at Rajahmundry. The young Raju lived mainly in Mogallu and was educated in Rajamundry at the Vullithota Bangarayya school, as well as in Kakinada, Tuni and Ramachandrapuram in the East Godavari district. Sitaramaraju carried out his campaign in the East Godavari and Vizag. Inspired by the patriotic zeal of the revolutionaries in Bengal, and the decisions taken by them at a meeting in Chittagong in 1921, Sitaramaraju raided many police stations in and around Chintapalli, Krishnadevipeta and Rajavommangi, carrying off guns and powder, and killing several British army officers, including the ruthless Scott Coward and Hites, near Damanapalli. Ramky Estates & Farms Ltd. honors him on his birthday. (Image copyrights belong to their respective owners)