Senior Naxalite Mallojula Venugopal alias Bhupathi and 60 other cadres have surrendered before police in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, officials said on Tuesday.

They turned themselves in before the police late Monday night, an official said.

Those who surrendered included a member of the central committee and 10 members of a divisional committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), the official said.

Venugopal alias Bhupathi alias Sonu was considered one of the most influential strategists in the Maoist organisation and had long supervised platoon operations along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, according to sources.

However, growing differences between him and the top Naxal leadership in recent months led to internal conflict, they said.

Bhupathi had claimed that the armed strugg

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