Bijapur: Papa Rao, considered to be the last senior Maoist leader operating in the Bijapur region of Chhattisgarh is set to surrender before the security forces with a number of his cadres.
This was announced by the state’s home minister Vijay Sharma on Tuesday. The development is being considered important as it comes barely a week before the Match 31 deadline set by Union home minister Amit Shah for eradicating Left Wing Extremism from the country.
Rao, between 55-60 years of age has been active for nearly 30 years in Chhattisgarh and was involved in several major attacks on the security forces.
“I have spoken with Papa Rao ji. Out of his team of 21 members, 12 to 14 are surrendering with weapons, including six AK-47s,” Sharma said, as reported by The Indian Express.
A school dropout who joined the Naxal movement in 1997, Rao is believed to have been involved in conspiracies to carry out several major Naxal attacks.
Bijapur SP Jeetendra Kumar Yadav said that there are 45 cases against him, including those in connection with the biggest Naxal attack in Tadmetla in 2010, when 76 jawans were killed in an ambush.
He was also involved in the last major attack by Naxals in January 2025, where eight security personnel and a civilian driver were killed in Ambeli, Bijapur.
Vivekanand Sinha, ADG, Naxal Operations, Chhattisgarh, said: “He was the last important Naxal leader left in the outfit in Chhattisgarh.”
There is a reward of Rs 25 lakh for Rao’s arrest. He is a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the highest state-level body of the banned CPI (Maoist). Rao is also the secretary of the South Bastar Zonal Bureau Committee and in charge of the West Bastar Divisional Committee of the party.
