End Of 'MMC' Zone: From Red Bastion To Only 6 Maoists Running For Cover

Ten days. 33 surrenders. And for the first time in more than three decades, the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) special zone, once the toughest Maoist theatre in central India, has shrunk to a single-digit count.

What was once a fortified Red Bastion stretching from Gondia to Balaghat, from Khairagarh to Kabirdham, is today reduced to only six Maoists running for cover.

They operated in two regions. The first is the Northern MMC Zone, and Kanha-Bhoramdev Division (KB) having Khatiya Mocha Dalam, Bhoramdev Dalam and Borla Dalam. These units controlled the forests of Balaghat, Mandla (Madhya Pradesh) and Kabirdham (Chhattisgarh).

The second is the Southern MMC Zone, comprising Gondia-Rajnandgaon-Balaghat Division having Malajkhand Dalam and Darre Khasa Dalam. This was considered the more dangerous faction, equipped with AKs, INSAS, underbarrel grenade launchers and IED specialists. They have only six armed Maoists left.

This dramatic collapse began on November 28, when 11 from the Darre Khasa Dalam surrendered in Maharashtra's Gondia district. Their leader, Vikas Nagpure alias Anant who had only nine days earlier led the ambush killing of Hawk Force inspector Ashish Sharma, walked into police custody with folded hands. It was a signal that the zone had begun to crack.

That surrender triggered a chain of events that brought down the entire northern MMC Zone just a week later, when 10 Maoists of the Kanha-Bhoramdev (KB) Division surrendered before Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in Balaghat.

Two Special Zonal Committee Members, including the notorious Surendra alias Kabir Sodi, were among those who surrendered with INSAS rifles, AKs and assorted country-made weapons. With one ceremony, the northern MMC structure disintegrated, ending Maoist presence across the vast non-tourist belts of Kanha National Park and Mandla's deep jungles.

But the most decisive blow came a day later in the form of the man who had been the MMC's final spine, Ramdher Majji.

The Central Committee Member of CPI (Maoist), the unquestioned commander of the southern MMC's 14-member elite assault squad, the controller of the Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh and Balaghat corridor, and the mastermind behind multiple attacks, surrendered with 11 Maoists in Chhattisgarh.

Just months ago, Ramdher's name was spoken in whispers across the tri-junction forests. He was the man who the police in three states hunted relentlessly. After the death of Deepak Teltumbde and arrests of earlier commanders, the organisation had handed over the collapsing MMC structure to this 50-year-old strategist from Mallemadi, Bijapur district.

A tall, wiry man fluent in Telugu, Gondi and Hindi, he could walk 30 to 40 km through dense jungle without rest, which earned him the reputation of the "field-level brain" of the CPI (Maoist).

When he arrived with his wife Lalita (alias Anita) and 12 to 14 Maoists in early 2025, the MMC zone was on life support. Within months, the couple rebuilt its military structure by integrating old combatants from Bastar, Bijapur, Kondagaon and Balaghat. Nearly 50 fighters were active again in his zone. His personal guard squad included seven heavily armed Maoist Sukash alias Ranga with an AK, Munna with an SLR, Ram Singh with a generic rifle, and Ronnie, Laxmi and Sagar with INSAS rifles - a unit internally known as the "Deadly Group." He never took a step without them.

Intelligence documents showed that many Maoists were exhausted, demoralised and eager to leave. The supply chain had broken. Communication with Maoist leadership in Dandakaranya had snapped. Even his closest Maoists were seeking exit routes. The organisation was crumbling faster than he could rebuild it.

When Ramdher finally sat in custody, his confession to NDTV was a revelation of an empire collapsing under its own weight.

"We saw Sonu Dada and Satish Dada surrendering," he said calmly. "We kept waiting for guidance from the Central Committee, but communication kept breaking. After August, we could not even meet. When Anant surrendered and issued his statement, we understood the struggle was over. We also decided to leave. Now we will do social service within the framework of the Constitution."

With 33 surrenders in 10 days, the number of Maoists left in the MMC Zone is six, two from Ramdher's disbanded Malajkhand Dalam and four remnants of Anant's Darre Khasa unit.

The police believe they will not last long. They are cut-off from the leadership, running on empty supplies, and tracked round-the-clock by joint forces of three states operating under a clear policy as Mohan Yadav said, "Surrender or be eliminated."

From the 1990s to 2020s, the MMC Zone was considered one of the most dangerous Maoist pockets outside Dandakaranya, an area that saw dozens of ambushes, IED attacks, and killings.

Officials warned that although the armed structure has collapsed, the ideological threat is not entirely dead. Some surrendered Maoists may try to push their ideology in democratic or underground ways. The security forces will have to maintain permanent dominance in the region, build trust among villagers, prevent regrouping and accelerate development work in remote forest villages that were once Maoist zones.