Papa Rao, one of the most wanted Maoist leaders with a bounty of ₹25 lakh on his head, surrendered before security forces in Jagdalpur along with 17 armed insurgents, including two other senior cadres identified as DVCM Prakash Madvi and DVCM Anil Tati. Papa Rao and his associates handed over a substantial cache of weapons, including AK-47s, SLRs, INSAS rifles, .303 rifles, and BGL launchers. Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma described the moment as the end of the armed Maoist insurgency in the state.
The surrender came after days of back-channel negotiations with the Maoist insurgents. Earlier, on March 24, ADG (Naxal Operations) Vivekanand Sinha had confirmed that Papa Rao was in contact with the police. By late that evening, Bastar Range IG P. Sundarraj released photographs and videos showing the wanted commander and his men walking through forest paths with their weapons, heading towards the waiting security forces.
On Wednesday, a formal ceremony titled ‘Puna Maragem: From Rehabilitation to Rejuvenation’ was held at Shaurya Bhawan in Jagdalpur, where Papa Rao, along with 17 other insurgents, was inducted into the mainstream. The insurgents laid down their weapons before Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma, police officials, senior citizens, and central security force officers.
Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma personally kept a close watch on the negotiations. He described the moment as the end of the armed Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh. ‘There is no active member left in the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee in the state. Area committee members and party cadres have given up their uniforms and weapons. In this sense, armed Maoism in the state has come to an end,’ Sharma said.
Sharma also revealed that the remaining cadres would surrender within the next seven days. He said that the March 31 deadline set by the Union Home Minister for eradicating Maoist insurgency from Chhattisgarh would be achieved.
Papa Rao is a native of Nimmalguda village in southern Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. He joined the Maoist movement as a teenager in the 1990s, drawn by the songs of the ‘Chetna Natya Mandali’ and the growing insurgency around him. He started as a member of the Bal Sangham and rose steadily through the ranks, becoming one of the few local Bastar tribals to reach the top leadership.
His name ‘Papa Rao’ was given to him by Maoist commander Ramanna alias Ravalu Srinivas when he was inducted into his team. Over the years, he became a key member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC). DKSZC is the most powerful Maoist unit operating across southern Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Odisha. Papa Rao also led the National Park Area Committee and served as secretary of the West Bastar Division.
Papa Rao had a chilling record. Security agencies hold him responsible for leading some of the deadliest Maoist attacks in history. The 2010 Tadmetla ambush, in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, is believed to have been masterminded by him. He is also believed to be a key conspirator in the Chingavaram bus blast on the Dantewada-Sukma route that claimed 32 lives. More recently, in January 2025, the IED blast on the Kutru-Bedre road in Bijapur that killed eight security personnel was attributed to him.
Over the years, Papa Rao became something of a ghost-like figure. At least three times, rumours of his death spread. In July 2016, word went around that he had died of a snakebite. During the Covid pandemic in 2020, reports surfaced that he succumbed to kidney failure. In January 2025, after an encounter in Bijapur’s National Park area, where four of his associates were killed, whispers again circulated that he too had been eliminated. But each time, Papa Rao resurfaced.
His first wife, Urmila, was also a Naxalite and served as secretary of the Pamed Area Committee. She was killed in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur in November 2025. A few months later, Papa Rao married again, and his second wife is also believed to be a Maoist cadre.
The combination of sustained pressure from security forces and a growing sense of distrust within the organisation’s top leadership finally pushed the elusive commander to surrender. It is noteworthy that Home Minister Vijay Sharma had hinted at the development during an interview on the morning of March 24, saying the Rs 25 lakh bounty Maoist was about to return to the mainstream.
For nearly 25 years, Papa Rao’s name was whispered in fear across the forests of Bastar. Sunnam Chandreya, who was known as Papa Rao in the Dandakaranya region, was the man security forces could never quite catch. He was believed to be the mastermind behind some of the bloodiest attacks the region had ever seen. On Wednesday, he walked out of the jungle for good.