Papa Rao, a senior Naxal leader who was active for nearly 30 years in Chhattisgarh, will surrender before the security forces, state Home Minister Vijay Sharma said on Tuesday. The development comes a week before the March 31 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah for eradicating Left Wing Extremism from the country.
“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.
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Suspected to be between 55 and 60 years of age, Papa Rao is a school dropout who joined the Naxal movement in 1997. He is believed to have been involved in conspiracies to carry out several major Naxal attacks.
Superintendent of Police for Bijapur district, Jeetendra Kumar Yadav, said that Rao has 45 cases against him, including 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.
Additional Director General, Naxal Operations, Vivekanand Sinha, said, “He was the last important Naxal leader left in the outfit in Chhattisgarh.” Rao has a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his arrest.
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Rao is a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the highest state-level body of the banned CPI (Maoist). He is also the secretary of the South Bastar Zonal Bureau Committee and in charge of the West Bastar Divisional Committee of the party.
Papa Rao is suspected to be between 55 and 60 years of age. (Express Photo) 
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