NAGPUR, Oct. 16 -- Senior Maoist leader and CPI (Maoist) politburo member Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupathi surrendered before chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, along with 60 cadres of the banned outfit, at a ceremony in Gadchiroli on Wednesday morning. Bhupathi, who carried a combined bounty of around Rs.6 crore announced by six states- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha-laid down 54 weapons, including seven AK-47s and nine INSAS rifles as he and his associates surrendered before Fadnavis. According to police sources, Bhupathi and his associates had first surrendered before the Gadchiroli police on Monday night near Laheri, bordering the Abujhmad region of Chhattisgarh's Bastar region. The formal surrender ceremony was originally scheduled for Thursday, but Fadnavis advanced it and flew to Gadchiroli from Mumbai on Wednesday morning in a special aircraft. The surrender parade, attended by DGP Rashmi Shukla and several senior officials, is being hailed as the largest in the history of Maoist insurgency in Maharashtra. Once considered one of the most influential strategists in the CPI (Maoist), Bhupathi-also known as Sonu-had long supervised guerrilla platoon operations along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border. His surrender marks the end of a four-decade-long militant career, during which he led the outfit's once-dominant military stronghold in Abujmarh, Chhattisgarh, bordering Maharashtra and Telangana. Officials confirmed that Bhupathi had entered into a rehabilitation agreement with government negotiators before surrendering. In a dramatic sequence, the 69-year-old former chief of the PLGA Central Military Commission trekked nearly 25 km from his forest encampment to the designated surrender point, Laheri. His second-in-command, Prabhakaran, reportedly withdrew at the last moment and disappeared into the forests with four women guerrillas. Fadnavis hailed the surrender as a "victory for peace and development", adding that it demonstrated the effectiveness of dialogue and rehabilitation over violence. "This historic surrender proves that the path of peace, dialogue and development is stronger than the path of violence," he said. Sandip Patil, Inspector-General of Police (Anti-Naxalite Cell), Maharashtra state, said that the rehabilitation package, along with assurances of safety and livelihood, was crucial in persuading Bhupathi and his cadres to give up arms. He added that the move was the outcome of months of negotiations and sustained counter-insurgency operations under the guidance of Union home minister Amit Shah and the coordinated efforts of state police forces. At its peak in 2010, left-wing extremism affected nearly 200 districts across India, posing a serious internal security challenge. Over the years, consistent security operations and developmental initiatives have sharply reduced both the geographical spread and intensity of Maoist activity, with Bhupathi's surrender marking a significant step toward the movement's decline....