Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupathi, a central committee member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday.

In addition to Bhupathi, who carried a reward of Rs 6 crore on his head, 60 suspected Maoists also surrendered to security forces.

Among them were two zonal committee members and 10 divisional committee members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). They handed over 54 weapons, including seven Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947 rifles, six Self-Loading Rifles and nine Indian Small Arms System rifles, to the authorities, The Hindu reported.

Those who surrendered received a total reward amount of Rs 5.24 crore and copies of the Constitution “to strengthen faith in democratic values”, the chief minister said.

“I am laying down weapons and will now be part of movements for providing relief for the oppressed in India,” ANI quoted Bhupathi as saying.

He said that since March, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) had been in talks with the government and even submitted a ceasefire proposal in May, but received no official response.

“Instead, they increased the intensity of their attacks,” he alleged.

Bhupathi added that he surrendered in response to a peace appeal by former Communist Party of India (Maoist) General Secretary Basavaraju, who was killed in a gunfight with security forces in May.

Bhupathi also urged security forces to suspend operations in Maoist strongholds for a period of one month to allow consultations with other party leaders and those who are in jail.

“Our party, leftist organisations and sympathisers can send us their views, and we will consider them,” he added.

Fadnavis described the development as the “beginning of the end of the Naxal movement” in Maharashtra, adding that he was proud that Gadchiroli was leading the fight against the Maoist conflict in the country, The New Indian Express reported.

He assured those who surrendered that they would be rehabilitated in Gadchiroli.

The Union government has repeatedly vowed to end Maoism by March 31, 2026.

In the neighbouring Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, more than 400 suspected Maoists were killed in 2024-’25, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai had said in June.

In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces across Chhattisgarh.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians.

Who is Bhupathi?

Bhupathi, who hails from Telangana’s Peddapalli, is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate, The Indian Express reported.

He is the brother of Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, alias Kishenji, who was killed in a gunfight with security forces in West Bengal in 2011. In September, Pothula Padmavathi, alias Sujatha, the widow of Kishenji, had also surrendered before the Telangana Police.

Bhupathi was appointed a spokesperson of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2010, The Indian Express reported.

He was also in charge of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee in Gadhchiroli, India Today reported.

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