Gadchiroli: The most-wanted Maoist commander, Bhupati along with over 60 of his associates surrendered to police on Tuesday. He took the decision under the pressure of anti-Maoist operations in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.

Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupati, is a firebrand member of the banned CPI (M)’s Central Committee. He is known by several other aliases, like Sonu, Sonu Dada, Venugopal, Abhay, Master, Vivek, and Venu.

Bhupati had multiple bounties on his head, ranging from Rs 1 crore to 10 crore, in several states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. His surrender leaves the Maoist activities in the Gadchiroli belt almost decimated. He is the brother of senior Maoist commander Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishanji who was died in an encounter in West Bengal.