India: Maoists’ Crippled Movement – Analysis
On May 21, 2025, in a major tactical blow to the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), Nambala Keshava Rao aka Basava Raju aka Ganganna aka Krishna aka Vijay aka Prakash (70), the ‘general secretary’ of the party (the highest executive post), a ‘Politburo member’, ‘Central Committee (CC)’ member, and Central Military Commission (CMC)’ member, was killed along with 26 other Maoists, in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in the dense jungles between the Abujhmad Forest and the Indravati National Park in the Narayanpur District of the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. One supporter (informer) of the Police was also killed in the encounter. During the operation, one District Reserve Guards (DRG) jawan Khotluram Korram (38), was killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast.
During a combing operation along the border of Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur Districts, in the Abhujmadh area, following intelligence inputs about the presence of senior cadres of the Maoists’ ‘Maad division’, coincidentally, on the night of the encounter, both Basava Raju and the DRG personnel unknowingly camped within a radius of 1 to 1.5 kilometres. At dawn, a chance firing took place between Basava Raju’s sentry and a DRG trooper, which led to the fierce gun battle, which lasted for about 30 to 40 minutes, with over 300 rounds fired by both sides. The identity of Basava Raju was confirmed by a DRG trooper, who was a former Maoist and had worked with him.
Two women bodyguards of Basava Raju, Sangeeta and Bhoomika, both aged around 35, active members of Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Company No. 07, carrying a bounty of INR 1 million each, were also reportedly killed in the encounter. Also killed was Jang Naveen akaMadhu (45), a high-ranking strategist, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and part of the Central Committee’s strategic team, with a bounty of INR 2.5 million; as well as Ugendra aka Vivek (30), a member of PLGA Company No. 07 and affiliated with the People’s Party Committee (PPCM), carrying a bounty of INR 800,000. The identities of the other slain cadres were still being ascertained at the time of writing.
Significantly, the killing of Basava Raju who had a cumulative bounty of INR 30 million [including INR 10 million each from Chhattisgarh government and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), INR 5 million from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and INR 2.5 million each from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha] was a “major success”. Originally from Vizianagaram District in Andhra Pradesh, Basava Raju joined the Maoist movement during his student years in Warangal, where he was active in the Radical Students Union (RSU). He joined the People’s War Group soon after and rose through the ranks over 35 years. An experienced military strategist, he had received guerrilla and explosives training from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1987. He was known for his tactical ruthlessness, and played key roles in several deadly ambushes and IED attacks. Some of the most infamous incidents under his command included: the 2010 Dantewada massacre, in which 75 CRPF personnel and one State Policeman were killed; the 2013 Jheeram Ghati ambush, which left 28 persons dead, including senior Congress leaders and the head of the Salwa Judum, Mahendra Karma; the 2018 Sukma IED blast that killed nine CRPF personnel; the 2019 Gadchiroli landmine attack, in which 15 SF personnel of the Quick Response Team (QRT) wing of C-60, the Maharashtra Police counter-insurgency commando unit, and a civilian driver were killed; the 2021 Sukma-Bijapur ambush that killed at least 22 SF personnel; the 2023 Dantewada IED explosion, killing 10 DRG personnel and a civilian driver; and the 2025 Bijapur IED attack, which killed eight DRG personnel and one civilian driver.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister (CM) Vishnu Deo Sai, addressing a press conference in Raipur on May 22, 2025, stated that the Maoist movement was “breathing its last” in the Bastar region, adding, “In three decades, this is the first time that a ‘general secretary’-rank person has been killed. It’s a huge success and a huge shock to the Naxal since it has broken their spine. With folded hands, I greet and appreciate the courage and bravery shown by our forces. We’re proud of them.”
Further, speaking about the importance of the killing of Basava Raju, RK Vij, a former Director General of Police (DGP), who played a significant role in the formation of DRG unit of Chhattisgarh Police in 2015, observed, “This was no ordinary kill. Basavaraju, an engineering dropout from Andhra Pradesh, was not just a guerrilla commander. He was the ideological and military head of India’s most potent insurgent force. He succeeded Ganapathy in 2018 and brought a militant edge to the party, shifting focus from political mobilisation to aggressive militarisation.”
The killing of Basava Raju comes at a crucial time for the Maoists, at a time when the central and state forces are tightening pressure across all the residual Maoist-dominated zones. Indeed, a May 14, 2025 report revealed that SFs had killed 31 CPI-Maoist cadres in an anti-Maoist operation that lasted for about three weeks in the Karregutta Hills of Bijapur District, on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana. According to an unnamed senior officer in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), the operation started on April 21, 2025, after multiple agencies received inputs that top Maoist leaders and ‘commanders’, including Hidma Madvi (51), were spotted in the Karregutta Hills. Six Maoists were reportedly killed on April 24; one was killed on May 5; 22 were killed on May 7; and two Maoists were killed on May 12.
While speaking on the operation, the Chhattisgarh Police on May 14, disclosed, “The Maoist senior leaders, including Hidma, managed to escape. Initially, there was a plan to keep this operation on, but it is their hardcore area. It’s not safe for security personnel to wait there during this weather, so we decided to end the operation for now. “
The current aggressive operations against the Maoists are part of the ‘renewed strategy’ to ‘end’ the Maoist threat by the target date of March 31, 2026, set by Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah. It is useful to note that, on January 21, 2024, UHM Shah asserted that the country would be freed of the menace of Naxalism within the next three years, and directed the states to expedite development activities in remote areas affected by the ultras.
Conspicuously, since January 21, 2024, at least 416 Maoists have been killed in 47 major incidents (each involving three or more killings) carried out against the Maoists across the country, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database (data till May 25, 2025).
At least 4,816 Maoists have been killed since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting LWE-related violence across the country (data till May 25, 2025).
Meanwhile, following the killing of Basava Raju, the CPI-Maoist is left without direction or a unified voice. Speculation points to two senior leaders as contenders to “fill the leadership void”. Mallojula Venugopal aka Abhay aka Bhupati aka Master aka Sonu (69), a Brahmin from Peddapalli in Karimnagar District, Telangana, with a B. Com degree, is viewed as a seasoned ideologue. He is a ‘Politburo’ and ‘CMC’ member and served as official ‘spokesperson’ of the CPI-Maoist after the death of Cherukuri Rajkumar (Azad) in 2010. He was the Chief of the Maoist’s Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) which includes the Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra. He was tasked with the formation of a new guerrilla zone in South India, to control areas on either side of the Western Ghats, from Goa to Idukki in Kerala. He also took charge of the party’s publication division. Police intelligence also suspect he is one of the brains behind the April 2010 Maoist attack in Dantewada, in which 75 CRPF personnel and one State Policeman were killed. After the death of Mallojula Koteswara Rao aka Kishenji, the party appointed him to lead the Lalgarh area movement in West Bengal against Operation Green Hunt. He is the younger brother of late Maoist leader ‘Kishenji’.
The second contender is Thippari Tirupati aka Devji aka Devuji aka Deoji aka Sanjiv aka Sanjeev aka Chetan aka Ramesh aka Kumma aka Shankar aka Sheshu aka Jagan aka Sudharshan aka Devanna (60), hailing from Ambedkar Nagar village under Kurtula City Police Station in the Karimnagar District of Telangana. He is from the Madiga scheduled caste community and is the ‘CMC’ member who guides the Central Regional Bureau (CRB) of the CPI-Maoist in military issues. Tirupati’s name is on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) most wanted list, with a bounty of INR 1 million. Police believe that Tirupathi is also one of the masterminds of the April 2010 Maoist attack in Dantewada (mentioned above).
An unnamed senior Telangana Police officer thus observed, “There was growing pressure within the organisation to ensure caste diversity in leadership. It now remains to be seen whether the party sticks to that line or opts for a more politically seasoned figure like Venugopal.”
Interestingly, according to a May 22, 2025, media report, two other names in circulation include Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy aka Kosa (63), a ‘Central Committee (CC)’ member whose influence is limited, and Malla Raji Reddy (73), considered too old and previously arrested.
In a related development on the leadership change, according to a February 1, 2025, report, the Maoists shifted Hidma Mandvi from the PLGA battalion No. 1, the group’s most lethal military formation, and replaced him with Maoist leader Patiram Manjhi aka Toofan Da aka Anal Da aka Patiram Marandi aka Taru Manjhi (54). Manjhi has a bounty of INR 10 million on his head and was given charge of battalion No. 1, was appointed to the CC as well. Hidma, who had narrowly escaped capture during the exchanges of fire with CoBRA, CRPF and other security personnel between Nuapada, bordering Gariabandh and Malkangiri bordering Bijapur, was retained as a member of the ‘central committee’ and was given charge of collecting arms and ammunition, as well as to chalk out major plans.
The leadership attrition in CPI-Maoist has been catastrophic. The status of the list of 2014 ‘Politburo’ and ‘CC’ members, for instance, has been discussed earlier. As of May 24, 2025, at least five ‘Politburo’ & ‘CC’ members were Muppalla Laxmana Rao aka Ganapathi (75), former ‘general secretary’, who resigned from the post on November 10, 2018; Sumanand Singh aka Sujith Da aka Sumith; Mallajula Venugolpal aka Bhupathi (60); Mishir Besra aka Bhaskar aka Sunirmal (63); and Akilesh Yadav aka Prabodh aka Satish aka Prashant, arrested on June 12, 2011, and acquitted in 2015. The whereabouts of these five are not known. Of the 18 additional members of the ‘CC’, the whereabouts of at least three – Chandari Yadav aka Prayag aka Pralay; Mohan aka Mahesh; and Thippari Tirupati aka Devji – are not known. Of the five alternate ‘CC’ members, the whereabouts of only four members – Pulluri Prasad Rao aka Chandranna; Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy aka Kosa aka Sadhu aka Gopanna (63); Modem Bala Krishna aka Bhaskar (57); and Pankaj – are not known. Thus, only 13 members, five ‘politburo’, three ‘CC’, and four ‘alternate CC’ members, and Hidma (51), remain elusive, and some of them could currently be ‘operational’.
The Maoists are fighting a desperate battle, and are on the verge of collapse following the mammoth loss of their ‘supreme’ leader. Irrespective of the succession, the movement is in disarray at this critical juncture, and any ‘revival’ is most unlikely. It remains to be seen how the security agencies and political establishment carry forward their aggressive campaign against the Maoists, to meet the March 2026 deadline.