New Delhi: The surrender of top Maoist commander, Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupati, along with over 60 of his associates, signals the death of the ‘Naxalite’ movement to a large extent and in particular at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

Bhupathi, also known as Sonu, Venugopal, Sonu ‘dada’, Vivek, Master and Venu, carried multiple bounties ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore.

He was a firebrand leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), an outfit that is banned in India.

He was wanted in Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. He was active in the movement for the last 40 years and was in charge of operations in the Red Corridor comprising Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra. He was also a member of the CPI (Maoist)’s Central Military Commission an

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