Venugopal's surrender would deliver a serious blow to the Maoist movement, which has suffered major losses in its battle with the security forces.
Published Oct 14, 2025 | 1:06 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 14, 2025 | 1:06 PM
Venugopal had recently revealed a long-standing rift with the Maoist leadership over surrendering and joining the mainstream society. While ending his decades-long association with the armed struggle, he urged cadres to "save themselves" and avoid making "meaningless sacrifices"
Synopsis: On 31 December 2024, Tara (Tarakka), Venugopal’s wife, surrendered to the Maharashtra government. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis then announced that it was only a matter of time before Abhay, too, gave up. The Maoist group is currently active only in parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the Gadchiroli belt of Maharashtra.
Close on the heels of releasing a letter announcing his resignation from the banned and cornered CPI (Maoist), the organisation’s former spokesperson and central committee member Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Abhay, laid down his weapons along with 60 of his comrades in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, reports said on Tuesday, 14 October.
In the letter, Venugopal, 69, revealed a long-standing rift with the Maoist leadership over surrendering and joining the mainstream society. While ending his decades-long association with the armed struggle, he urged cadres to “save themselves” and avoid making “meaningless sacrifices”.
Admitting that the path taken by Maoists had been completely wrong, Venugopal also regretted his inability to correct the party’s course and prevent its decline.
Venugopal’s surrender would deliver a serious blow to the Maoist movement, which has suffered major losses in its battle with the security forces. Besides Abhay, Venugopal also went by the aliases Bhupathi, Master and Sonu.
Tara (Tarakka), Venugopal’s wife, had surrendered to the Maharashtra government on 31 December 2024. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had then announced that it was only a matter of time before Abhay, too, gave up. The Maoist group is currently active only in parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the Gadchiroli belt of Maharashtra.
Venugopal is the brother of Mallojula Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji, a top-ranking Maoist leader, who was killed by the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) on 24 November 2011.
South First reported on 26 September that the CPI (Maoist) has been in a state of confusion. “Though the Maoist group had suffered from an internal crisis in the past, the current one appears to be far more challenging,” the report said.
“The banned CPI (Maoist) is at a crossroads. The relentless offensive by the Indian security forces has resulted in severe casualties, even as voices — strong and clear — have been heard from within the organisation to end the ‘failed’ armed struggle, and join mainstream politics. The latest to raise such a demand was Mallojula Venugopal, spokesperson and Central Committee member,” it further said.
Reports said Venugopal had the backing of the north sub-zonal and west sub-zonal bureaus of the CPI (Maoist) to join the mainstream.
Venugopal’s surrender comes as a shot in the arm for the sustained operations by the Indian security forces. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly stated that the Maoist movement would end by March 2026.
“Maoists still have a chance to abandon their weapons, surrender, and join the mainstream. If they refuse, they will be wiped out by the end of March next year.” Shah said in Telangana’s Nizamabad on 29 June 2025.
Venugopal was born into a poor family of freedom fighters and priests in Peddapalli in Telangana’s Karimnagar. He left home after being attracted to left-wing extremism. He later became the chief of the Maoist Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee. He was entrusted with the task of forming a new guerrilla zone in South India, from Goa to Idukki in Kerala.
The surrendered Maoist leader has been suspected of being one of the brains behind the attack on the CRPF at Dantewada, which killed at least 76 soldiers in April 2010.