After 33 years in Bastar forests, senior Maoist leader lays down arms, chooses Constitution

Chandraiyya alias Papa Rao was 19 when he joined the “organisation.” For the next 33-years, he lived in the forests of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, armed with an AK-47, moving around with his core team and occasionally visiting his native place in Sukma, around 250 km away, near the Telangana border. On March 24, he contacted a journalist in Bijapur and expressed his desire to lay down arms along with 18 others.

Known in police records as Papa Rao, he carried a reward of ₹25 lakh and was allegedly involved in several attacks on security forces and civilians in the Bijapur region.

In an interview with The Hindu, the once most-wanted Maoist leader said that he decided to surrender after the collapse of the senior leadership of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). “It started with the killing of Basavaraju on May 24, 2025, in Narayanpur. Our network was broken. We could not move from one place to another; we were trapped, so we decided to surrender,” he said.

The 42,000 sq. km Bastar region has been among the worst Left Wing-Extremism (LWE)-affected areas in the country. According to Sundarraj P., Inspector General, Bastar, the death of Maoist general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju (70) in Narayanpur district was a “game-changer” in decimating the Maoist network in the region. Basavaraju had taken over as the group’s leader in 2017-18, replacing Mullapalla Rao alias Ganapathi, who is now said to be in his 80s and no longer active. Papa Rao said he last met Ganapathi in 2016.

Recalling his early days, Papa Rao said that he was drawn to the movement after a revenue official allegedly assaulted his family. The official forced them to carry out some work in the jungles. “I was beaten with a stick, and my mother was pushed and thrashed. At that time, the sangathan (organisation) was growing stronger. We saw them with guns, raising voice for our rights. I initially joined them in 1992, but gave only outside support. I was arrested in 1993 by the Andhra Pradesh police and stayed in jail for a year. After coming out of prison, I picked up the gun,” he said.

Papa Rao said that his wife, Shyamala, who had followed him into the jungles, was killed in an encounter in 2007. He has three children—a daughter and two sons—who were looked after by his parents at their village in Kistaram, Sukma, until they died in 2013. “After my parents’ death, the children were on their own. I remarried in 2009. Urmila, my second wife, was also killed in an encounter in 2025,” he said. His older son, 25, works as a labourer in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. 

Now living under police protection since his surrender, Papa Rao said till 2020, he used to visit his village once every two to three years. “After that, it became impossible as security camps increased and encounters intensified,” he said.

A close aide of Hidma, a senior military commander of the banned outfit who was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh on November 18, 2025, Papa Rao said he did not know how many security personnel he might have killed. “I never counted. I planted IEDs—one blast in 1998 killed 16 jawans. I know how to make IEDs; everyone is taught. Many people were injured while making them. I never attacked alone; it was the committee’s decision,” he said.

Recalling an encounter on September 3, 2023, he said nine Maoists were killed in police firing near Bailadila while he managed to flee. “We never stayed in one place for more than a day. Earlier, we used to spend two to three days in a village, but then changed strategy,” he said.

Asked if he would rejoin Maoism given a chance, he said, “I do not think so. The days of armed rebellion against the government are over. We will look for solutions within the Constitution of India.”