Overview

• Sixty-one CPI (Maoist) members, including central committee leader Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi, surrendered in Gadchiroli in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
• They handed over 54 weapons, with police inventories listing AK-47s, INSAS rifles and SLRs among the arms recovered.
• Fadnavis hailed the event as a late-stage success against Maoism, announced a ₹1 crore reward for Gadchiroli Police and said more cadres could follow.
• Bhupathi, an influential strategist and Politburo member with reported bounties totaling about ₹6 crore, had publicly argued the armed struggle had failed and called for a ceasefire.
• Police cite earlier surrenders, including Bhupathi’s wife Tarakka in January, as catalysts; the group is under protection and will enter interrogation and rehabilitation processes.