
Operation Black Forest: 31 Naxals Carrying Rs 1.72 Cr Bounty Eliminated On Chhattisgarh-Telangana Border
BIJAPUR: In a historic success in the resolve of a 'Naxal-free India,' the security forces have killed 31 Naxalites in the biggest-ever 21-operation against Naxalism, on the Karreguttalu Hill (KGH) at the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. A total of 214 Naxal hideouts and bunkers have been destroyed in the operation, and a total of 450 IEDs, 818 BGL shells, 899 bundles of Codex, detonators and a huge amount of explosive material have been recovered during the searches.
In addition, nearly 12,000 kilograms of food supplies have also been recovered. As part of the operation, the security forces also destroyed four Naxal technical units that were being used for the production of BGL shells, homemade weapons, IEDs, and other deadly weapons. During the operation, a large quantity of ration supplies, medicines, and daily-use items were also recovered from various Naxal hideouts and bunkers.
In the significant operation, a total of 18 personnel from Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guards (DRG) were injured in various IED explosions. All the injured personnel are now out of danger and are receiving the best possible treatment at various hospitals.
In a post on X, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Karreguttalu Hill, which was once ruled by red terror, now proudly hoists the tricolour.
Karreguttalu Hill was the Unified Headquarters of major Naxal organisations like the PLGA Battalion 1, DKSZC, TSC, and CRC, where Naxal training, as well as the creation of strategies and weapons, used to take place.
Shah said that our security forces completed the biggest anti-Naxal operation in just 21 days, and it is a matter of immense pleasure that there were no casualties among the security forces during this operation. The Home Minister Shah congratulated the CRPF, STF, and DRG personnel who bravely faced the Naxalites in the bad weather and rugged hilly region and said that the entire country is proud of them.
Shah stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are determined to eliminate Naxalism from the roots. He reassured the citizens of the country that India will be Naxal-free by March 31, 2026. In Bijapur, Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Gyanendra Pratap Singh, along with Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Arun Dev Gautam and other senior officers of these forces, shared detailed information about this operation in a joint press brief, reaffirming their commitment to eliminate Naxalism by March 2026.
"We are committed to fulfilling the resolve taken by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to end naxalism by 31st March 2026...We have recovered 31 bodies (of Naxalites) and it is an area of 1200 square kilometres, and we have information that a larger number of Naxalites have been neutralised...Out of the 31 naxalites who have been neutralised, 28 have been identified...The operation was named Operation Black Forest, and the teams of Cobra, CRPF, and Chhattisgarh police were involved in this operation...Such a huge recovery has never happened in any operation before...This is a big achievement for us...," the CRPF DG told ANI.
The Chhattisgarh Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) recovered the bodies of 31 uniformed Naxalites, including 16 female Naxalites in uniform, and 35 weapons after 21 encounters that took place over 21 days on the Karreguttalu Hill (KGH), which was considered an impregnable stronghold of Naxalites on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border.
So far, 28 Naxalites have been identified, with a total reward of Rs 1 crore 72 lakh announced for them. The anti-Naxal operation, which took place from April 21, 2025, to May 11, 2025, indicates that the bodies recovered from the encounter site might belong to cadres of the banned, illegal, and most powerful armed Naxal organisation, the PLGA Battalion, CRC Company, and the Telangana State Committee.
The border areas of Sukma and Bijapur, which are the strongholds of Naxalites, including the most powerful armed organisations like the PLGA Battalion, CRC Company, and the Telangana State Committee, have been home to several top cadres. In this area, under challenging circumstances, the security forces established numerous new security camps, which increased their dominance.
As a result, the Naxalites formed a Unified Command and took refuge in the Karreguttalu Hill (KGH), considered impregnable, located at the border of Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, and Mulugu, Telangana. KGH is an extremely difficult hilly region, approximately 60 km long and 5 to 20 km wide, with a very tough and challenging geographical terrain. Over the past two and a half years, the Naxalites established their base in this area, where around 300-350 armed cadres, including the technical department (TD Unit) of the PLGA Battalion and other important organisations, took refuge.
Based on the inputs received, a comprehensive and well-coordinated plan was prepared, and on April 21, 2025, the Chhattisgarh Police and Central Armed Police Forces launched a large-scale joint operation. In this operation at KGH, a multi-agency special team was formed for collection, collation and analysis of technical, human intelligence and field inputs received from various intelligence agencies.
Using the gathered intelligence, the team conducted meticulous planning of the operation, including determining the strength of deployed forces, scheduling continuous mobilisation and arranging timely replacements. The intelligence inputs were continuously analysed and relayed in real time to field commanders, which enabled security forces to locate Naxalite operatives, their hideouts and arms caches while also helping to prevent casualties from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on several occasions. Acting on this intelligence, the security forces successfully recovered a substantial quantity of IEDs, BGL shells and other explosive materials.
This operation stands as the largest, most comprehensive and well-coordinated anti-Naxal campaign to date, a notable example of seamless cooperation between various state and central agencies operating in unison on a unified platform. Analysis of the information obtained during this historic 21-day-long anti-Naxal operation, the officials said, suggests that several senior Naxal cadres were either killed or seriously injured during the operation. However, due to the difficult geographical conditions, the security forces have not yet been able to recover the bodies of all the injured or killed Naxalites.
A large number of forces, equipment, and other logistics were mobilised in a professional manner for the implementation of the action plan of this historic operation. As per forces, the conditions at Karreguttalu Hill are extremely difficult, and with daytime temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius, many soldiers suffered from dehydration.
Despite this, the forces further said, there was no decrease in the morale of the soldiers, and they continued the operation against the Naxalites with full courage and enthusiasm. This operation is an excellent example of coordination between various state and central agencies, and the Modi government's 'whole-of-government' approach. The objective of the campaign was to reduce the armed capabilities of the Naxalites, neutralise armed squads, drive Naxal elements out of inaccessible areas and dismantle the brutal Naxalite organisation, the PLGA battalion.
It is noteworthy that building on the success of the anti-Naxal operations in 2024, the security forces have neutralised 197 hardcore Naxalites in the last 4 months as part of the ongoing anti-Naxal operations in 2025. In 2014, 35 districts were most affected by Naxalism, and by 2025, this number had reduced to only 6. Similarly, the number of Naxal-affected districts has decreased from 126 to just 18. In 2014, 1080 Naxal incidents were recorded in 330 police stations across 76 districts, whereas in 2024, only 374 incidents were recorded in 151 police stations across 42 districts. In 2014, 88 security personnel were martyred in Naxal violence, which decreased to 19 in 2024. The number of Naxalites killed in encounters has increased from 63 to 2089.
In 2024, 928 Naxalites surrendered, and so far, 718 have surrendered in the first four months of 2025. From 2019 to 2025, the central forces, in collaboration with state police, have established a total of 320 camps in Naxal-affected states, including 68 night-landing helipads. The number of fortified police stations, which was 66 in 2014, has now increased to 555. The long-term results of this extensive operation against the Naxalites are being observed, such as the division of large and armed Naxal units into several smaller units. The security forces' hold on these areas has strengthened, and they are continuously advancing in the National Park area under Bijapur district and the Maad region under Narayanpur district.

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Hindustan Times
30 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
In Maoist battle, a 6,000-strong force makes the difference
New Delhi : In August 2005, Basant K Ponwar moved from Mizoram to Chhattisgarh. At the time, Maoists had at least 106 districts in central and eastern India in their grip and were steadily expanding their menacing presence, prompting then prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 to call left-wing extremism (LWE) as the country's greatest internal security threat. The government's fight against the rebels was flailing, largely because Maoists were trained in jungle warfare and were picking up young boys and girls from villages to train them as child soldiers. In response, the government's bloated forces were unmotivated and unfamiliar with the forested terrain of southern Chhattisgarh. Growing frustration led to misadventures such as the Salwa Judum, a vigilante force that aimed to push back Maoists but ended up pillaging villages and torturing tribespeople, before being disbanded by the Supreme Court in 2011. The retired brigadier Ponwar, then the head of the army's Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Mizoram, took a different approach. The 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran brought his team and set up the elite Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Kanker, about 60km from Raipur. 'To fight in the jungle, you must live in the jungle. Make the jungle your friend. Police had to be reoriented in counter-Naxal operations through a rigorous 45-day programme,' Ponwar told HT. From this initiative was born Chhattisgarh's unique District Reserve Guard (DRG) force in 2007-08, that is at the core of the government's aggressive move to wipe out the decades-old insurgency by next spring. Since 2024, the 6,000-strong force, populated largely by tribal people and former Maoists, has pushed deeper into the Maoist heartland and made inroads into territories considered too hostile even five years ago. 'The locals, who knew the jungle, were formally inducted into the system and further trained in counter-insurgency. Over the years, the recruitment among Naxals also decreased because the local tribal youth would rather join the police,' added Ponwar. Today, DRG personnel are spread across seven Maoism-affected districts in Chhattisgarh, not tasked with regular law-and-order duties, focusing only on guerilla warfare suitable in the dense forests of Abujhmad. The force is involved in almost every key encounter, navigating IEDs, ramming through Maoist ambushes, engaging in gunfights, and guiding other security forces in jungles. This includes the takeover of the key Maoist base at Karregutta hills, a place where forces had never entered before, and the recent killing of top Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao or Basavaraju last month. 'DRG jawans are locals, who know the area and the terrain. Their training ensures that they can work in the toughest conditions. You need such brave local jawans, who are guerilla fighters. There is also a trust factor involved here. Locals trust the DRG personnel,' said Inspector General (Bastar Range) P Sundarraj, one of the first students at the institution. Ahead of the Centre's proposed deadline to end Maoism by March 31, 2026, the National Security Guard's black cat commandos are also conducting joint exercises with the DRG jawans. To understand why DRG was set up, go back to 2006-07. Retired bureaucrat Shivraj Singh, who was Chhattisgarh's chief secretary between 2007 and 2008, said the unit was first mooted after the Centre realised the gravity of left-wing extremism (LWE). 'The Maoist movement had spread throughout Chhattisgarh in the early 2000s. At that time, Maoists functioned like a Spartan Army by taking children and moulding them as soldiers. Local tribespeople were also fed up and approached the police with complaints about the abductions and how Maoists terrorised their village. Police were not adequately trained then as they were largely focused on guarding their posts. I remember then National Security Adviser MK Narayanan constantly telling the Centre how grave the problem had become,' he said. Singh said in meetings between the state and the home ministry, the government decided to build a specialised unit for guerilla warfare against Maoists. 'It started with the police identifying young constables who were residents of Maoist areas, and training them to be part of DRG. These young police officers knew the forest and were well-versed in the topography,' he added. Residents from LWE violence-affected districts are first recruited as constables. Those who show skills in guerilla warfare are handpicked to be in DRG and sent for rigorous training. To underscore their effectiveness, the Chhattisgarh government is now set to approve a proposal to induct around 3,000 more DRG personnel, marking the biggest recruitment in recent years of local tribal men and surrendered Maoists. The state government is also working to make the unit more lucrative by creating a new post of deputy superintendent so that its personnel do not remain stagnant at the inspector level, a senior Chhattisgarh home department official said, asking not to be named. Data on anti-Maoist operations seen by HT showed that between December 1, 2023, and May 20, 2025, at least 401 Maoists were killed in 199 gunfights and 1,355 rebels surrendered. Thirty-seven DRG jawans also died in the attacks. But gun battles are not the most important role of DRG. That would be guiding the forces into the Abhujmad, a 5,000 sq km expanse of uncharted forest spread across Chhattisgarh's four Maoism-affected districts. It is inside this swath of vast uncharted territory where top Maoist leaders traditionally reside, and where the fiercest battles have broken out over the past two years. DRG jawans, born and brought up in the villages within the forest, are the perfect guides to lead the forces inside, said a senior police officer, also requesting anonymity. Anant Ram, a DRG sub-inspector who joined the unit as a constable in 2009, said, 'Intelligence gathering is better when locals are part of the force. The residents are with us.' Another jawan, Binod Kumar, who joined DRG in 2018, said, 'I volunteered to be part of the DRG and was sent to counter-insurgency school. Before that, I had only done regular basic training. Now in DRG, I am proud to be part of a movement.' In the May 21 encounter where Basavaraju was killed, for example, it was the DRG men who broke three layers of his security cordon and killed him in a gunfight, said an additional SP rank officer, who asked not to be named. 'In that operation, around 1,500 DRG from four districts of Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur were involved. The only photograph of Basavaraju we had was over 30 years old as he was never arrested. Some DRG jawans, who were surrendered Maoists and had seen Basavaraju, confirmed his identity. DRG jawans not only knew the area but some of the surrendered Maoists were trained by rebels, so they know the antidote to ambush tactics,' said the officer involved in the operation. Chhattisgarh Police's additional director general, Vivekanand Sinha, said the role of locals in fighting is critical to counter any insurgency. 'DRG jawans are trained in guerilla warfare. They know how and where to move in the jungle. They know the modus operandi of the Maoists whether it is about improvised explosive devices planted everywhere or laying an ambush. When such jawans trained in guerilla warfare work in conjunction with the security forces, it is a formidable combination,' he said. Despite DRG's successes, concerns linger. The biggest among them is the memory of the Salwa Judum. Formed in 2005, Salwa Judum (or peace march in Gondi) was a state-sponsored vigilante force that comprised local tribesmen and former Maoists who were trained by police and given weapons to take part in counter-insurgency operations. But the force displaced large numbers of villagers and killed several people as part of extra judicial operations, accusing the victims of being Maoist collaborators. In July 2011, the Supreme Court declared the militia to be illegal and unconstitutional, and ordered its disbanding. Congress leader Mahendra Karma played a key role in organising the militia. He was killed in an ambush by Maoists in May 2013 along with 27 others, including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former minister Vidya Charan Shukla. 'This is just another armed force. You have just armed them and given them impunity,' said activist Bela Bhatia. But senior police officials underline that DRG is different. Unlike Salwa Judum, where locals were armed and trained by the state, DRG is a specialised unit of the state police. DRG jawans do not conduct operations independently and work directly under the district SP. 'Surrendered Maoists would be about 10% of the force. Salwa Judum was a vigilante group, DRG jawans are not. Surrendered militants go through a rigorous process of first working as gopniya sainiks (secret soldiers) with the police for several months. Based on their performance as informers, they are then trained and inducted as constables. DRG is also successful because Maoists are fighting the same people they had once trained,' a second officer said. Maoists fear DRG jawans, but the latter are also obvious targets. The first casualty in the encounter that killed Basavaraju was also DRG jawan Khotluram Korram. Another jawan, Ramesh Hemla died in an IED blast the following day. The battle is only going to get tougher. Ten months ahead of the March 31, 2026 deadline, there are still around 350 armed Maoist cadres who have refused to surrender. Young commanders such as Hidma and Barse Deva, are expected to put up a stiff fight. To prepare for this, the state government has started shifting DRG personnel in their mid to late 40s to police stations. The unit requires men with young blood, who can trek for 2-3 days in jungles, prepare their own meals, live there, engage in gunfights, and trek back to their base through the same route. This is life in DRG. 'Maoism will soon be a thing of the past. The state may not need so many DRG personnel in the coming years so the older ones are now being shifted to police stations. This is to ensure a smooth transition,' said a DRG person, who asked not to be named. The young jawan looks forward to a day when Chhattisgarh is no longer a red corridor. 'All of us are local tribespeople who have suffered. Our friends, and relatives were abducted by Maoists in the prime of their youth and forced into a life they did not choose. Not just that, we have seen our friends blown to pieces by IEDs planted by Maoists,' he said. For now, he has a job to do and it is personal. 'We have lost too many in this fight. We need to fight for them too,' he said.


Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
‘More AC trains in Mumbai without increase in fares'
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New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Brought to bay in Dandakaranya
The general secretary of the proscribed CPI(Maoist), Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, was killed in an exchange of fire with the Chhattisgarh police on May 21 in the Indravati area of Abujhmad (the unknown hills). Not less than 26 members of his security posse/component, widely known as CC (central committee) protection company (Company No. 7 of People's Liberation Guerrilla Army— PLGA), also got killed in the firefight, which continued for over three days. One jawan of district Narayanpur was martyred in the first burst of bullets from the Maoists. This operation was conducted exclusively by the District Reserve Guards (DRG) of Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Dantewada. The operation was planned and executed under the supervision of Prabhat Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Narayanpur, of the 2019 IPS batch. In yet another tough operation, 31 Maoists were killed in a 21-day long joint operation conducted by the CRPF and DRG (and STF) on the steep Karregutta hills (spread over about 50 km x 10 km), which separate district Bijapur (of Chhattisgarh) from Telangana. As these hills were of great strategic importance for the Maoists, they planted a large number of IEDs (over 400 detected and diffused) to deter security forces from approaching them. The humidity was so intense that some jawans had to be evacuated by air due to exhaustion. The Superintendent of Police, Bijapur, Jitendra Yadav, from the 2018 IPS batch, demonstrated his capabilities in the successful execution of the operation and ensured proper coordination among the forces. One can gauge the importance of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) by the fact that over 50 battalions of them are deployed in Chhattisgarh, and they occupy the most forward posts. Records show that Maoist violence has declined over the past many years. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reduced the number of districts under its security-related expenditure (SRE) scheme from 72 in 10 states in 2021 to 58 (with 38 designated as LWE-affected) in eight states during a review in March 2024. In another review in April 2025, this number further reduced from 38 in eight states to 18 in seven states. The number of LWE-affected districts in Chhattisgarh reduced from 15 to 7 in the same period. While it does not seem the Maoist organisations have disappeared from the unclassified districts, their mass base and violence have surely declined