61 Maoists, together with prime chief Bhupati, give up in Maharashtra

In a serious blow to the Maoist motion in Maharashtra, 61 Maoists, together with outstanding central committee member of CPI (Maoist) Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupati, surrendered in entrance of the Maharashtra Police at Fodewada village in Bhamragad within the intervening evening of October 13 and 14. The 70-year-old Bhupati is thought to be one of many brains behind the extremist motion. Other insurgents who surrendered embrace two State zonal committee members, 10 divisional committee members and cadres from Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

The Maoists handed over 54 weapons, together with seven AK47s, six SLRs and 6 INSAS rifles. Bhupati’s give up comes months after his spouse Tarakka, alias Vimala Sidam, additionally a Maoist chief, turned herself in. His sister-in-law had surrendered in entrance of the Telangana Police.

“Bhupati was the mind or the guiding spirit behind the Naxal motion. He was the quantity two within the motion and was to change into the final secretary. Ever since his spouse surrendered, he had been brazenly speaking concerning the thought of surrendering and becoming a member of the mainstream. He was sad with the best way the motion was going, about the best way the occasion had modified strains,” an official stated.

A senior official informed The Hindu that with Bhupati’s give up, “the core household of the Naxal motion” has ended and that it’s a “main step within the elimination” of the insurgency. “It has occurred after 4 to 5 months of constant efforts by the Maharashtra Police,” the official stated, including that there was “stiff competitors between police forces of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana to safe the give up of the most-dreaded Naxal chief.”

An official stated that after an encounter in Chhattisgarh, Bhupati was sceptical about surrendering there. “With the form of resistance from the Telangana Naxal management towards his thought of surrendering, he was unsure if he might traverse an extended distance and attain Hyderabad safely to give up,” the official stated, including that Bhupati additionally noticed “the therapy given to others who had surrendered in Maharashtra, together with his spouse”.

“The official give up will happen in entrance of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Wednesday (October 15, 2025) morning,” the official stated.

A commerce graduate from Pedapalli in Telangana, Bhupati was a Polit Bureau member of the CPI (Maoist) and is the brother of Kishenji, the dreaded Maoist chief gunned down in 2011 in West Bengal. Another sibling, Azad, was additionally a Maoist killed 20 years in the past.

Since the beginning of the insurgency in Maharashtra in 1980, 1,522 Maoists have surrendered, 4,123 have been arrested and 347 have been killed in operations, present authorities knowledge.