Raipur: Notorious ‘bombmaker’ Takkalappalli Vasudeva Rao, alias Rupesh (59) is among the 170 Maoists who surrendered in Chhattisgarh on Thursday. They are set to formally surrender before the state’s chief minister Vishu Deo Sai on Friday.
Rupesh, from Mugulu in Telangana, is believed to have orchestrated the attack on Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on December 2, 2000. He also believed to have been involved in the killings of then Andhra Pradesh home minister A Madhav Reddy and IPS officer Umesh Chandra in 1999. He is last known to have been operating from the Abujhmad area of Chhattisgarh.
Ranita, in charge of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee’s (DKZC) Maad division, is also known to have surrendered with him.
While Chhattisgarh police sources said Rupesh had been elevated to the central committee of the banned CPI (Maoist), it is believed that he had not yet taken up the post. He apparently surrendered before attending a single central committee meeting.
This surrender comes just two days after the party’s politburo member Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Sonu, laid down arms with around 60 cadres in Maharashtra. He was known as the ideological head of the party. Before his surrender, Sonu had written a letter to authorities with the offer that Maoists could give up “the armed struggle” to “save the party”, and said that Rupesh was with him.
It is believed that Rupesh was a keen follower of Sonu.
Union home minister Amit Shah called this a major achievement.
“Today, 170 Naxalites have surrendered in Chhattisgarh. Yesterday, 27 had laid down their arms in the state. In Maharashtra, 61 returned to the mainstream… In total, 258 battle-hardened left-wing extremists have abjured violence in the last two days,” he posted on X on Thursday.
“I applaud their decision to renounce violence, reposing their trust in the Constitution of India. It attests to the fact that Naxalism is breathing its last due to the relentless efforts of the PM Narendra Modi-led government to end the menace. Our policy is clear – those who want to surrender are welcome, and those who continue to wield the gun will meet the wrath of our forces… We are committed to uprooting Naxalism before 31st March 2026,” he added.
Shah mentioned how Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad and north Bastar, “which were once terror bases, have today been declared as free from Naxal terror. Now a trace of Naxalism exists in south Bastar, which will be wiped out soon by our security forces.”
Since the BJP government was formed in Chhattisgarh, 2,100 Maoists have surrendered, 1,785 have been arrested, and 477 have been killed, the home minister wrote.
“These numbers mirror our fierce resolve to decimate Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026,” he said.