The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was founded on September 21, 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India . The merger was announced to the public on October 14 the same year. In the merger a provisional central committee was constituted, with PW leader Ganapati as General Secretary.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is conducting people's war in India with the goal of establishing a socialist state that will pursue Maoism. Currently it has effective control over some regions of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh as well as presence in Bihar and the tribal-dominated areas in the borderlands of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa. The CPI(Maoist) aims to consolidate its power in this area and establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone from which to advance the people's war in other parts of India.

The military wings of the respective organisations, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (military wing of MCCI) and People's Guerrilla Army (military wing of PW), were also merged. The name of the unified military organisation is People's Liberation Guerrilla Army.

In February 2005 the CPI(Maoist) killed 7 policemen, a civilian and injured many more during a mass attack on a school building in Venkatammanahalli village, Pavgada , Tumkur, Karnataka [1], [2].