‘Maoists retreated to Karreguttalu Hills… They never thought we'd negotiate so many IEDs': Inside the op that killed 31 Naxals

Indian Express

15-05-2025

The massive anti-Naxal operations in Karregutta hills on Chhattisgarh-Telangana border has led to the breaking up of the dreaded Battalion 1 of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'s armed unit People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and key Maoist leadership, officials said Wednesday. The remarks come days after security forces announced that they were calling off the operation, which saw the deployment of over 25,000 people.
At a press conference he held Wednesday, Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) GP Singh called 'Operation Karreguttalu' 'historic and successful'. The operations began on April 21, after security forces after multiple agencies received inputs that top Maoist leaders and commanders, including Hidma Madvi, were spotted in the Karregutta hills.
The Karregutta hills, which literally translates into the 'The black forest' hills, are stated to be 700 metres high and thickly-wooded, with officials claiming that the terrain makes it difficult to scale.
Security forces have claimed that a total of 31 Maoists have been killed in the operation. A 16-year-old is among those killed, The Indian Express has found.
Giving operational details, Singh said: 'As the dominance of the security forces increased, the Maoists formed a unified command and retreated to the Kareguttalu Hills, considered an impenetrable area on the border of Bijapur district (Chhattisgarh) and Mulugu district (Telangana)'.
According to the officer, security forces had now established camps and conducted intelligence-based operations in the border areas of Sukma and Bijapur districts – places that previously had a strong presence of armed Maoist units such as the PGLA, the Central Reserve Command (CRC) Company, and the Telangana State Committee.
'The hills are around 60 km long and 5-20 km wide. The terrain and geographical conditions were tough and challenging. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the Maoists gradually established their base here including the technical units (weapon making units) and 350 armed forces of the Maoists were hiding there,' he said.
The area was rife with Improvised Explosive Devices, the officer said. Significantly, according to security officials, two security force personnel lost their limbs in separate blasts, while half a dozen suffered injuries.
'They never thought we would negotiate so many IEDs and get to them,' Singh said at the press conference Wednesday. 'We found 450 IEDs and neutralised them while there were 15 blasts. We destroyed four of their technical units (weapon making units for IEDs, Barrel Grenade Launchers (BGL), locally fabricated weapons). We have the latest technology and are a step ahead of them. We will sanitise the hills so civilians can come back here again.'
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Arun Dev Gautam, who also addressed the press conference, said 'heavy losses' were inflicted on the Maoists.
'The main objectives of this operation were: establishing new security camps to fill security voids, effective implementation of state development schemes in Maoist-affected districts to ensure all-round development of the region for the benefit of citizens, and conducting effective operations against the armed cadres and the entire ecosystem of the Maoists. As a result of the implementation of this action plan, security forces have inflicted heavy losses on the Maoists' armed cadres and their ecosystem, significantly reducing their area of influence,' he said.
Additional Director General (Naxal operations) Vivekanand Sinha said it was a 'meticulously planned operation which involved a lot of intelligence inputs, in depth planning, excellent coordination with troops on the hills which helped us to avoid casualties due to IED blasts'.
'Our troops braved the harsh weather and we were able to provide them with food and water through choppers. Due to this operation, we have broken their military units and key leadership into smaller parts. They all had congregated here and thought we could not get to them but we succeeded,' he said.
Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P said that 28 of the 31 Maoists whose bodies have been found so far had a bounty of over Rs 1 crore. 'Several key leaders have either been killed or injured. However, due to difficult terrain, not all bodies could be recovered,' he said. While Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Yadav said 216 Maoist hideouts and bunkers had been destroyed.
'Searches at these locations yielded 450 IEDs, 818 BGL shells, 899 bundles of Cordex, detonators, and large quantities of explosives,' he said.
When asked about minors being recruited in the Maoists' rank, DGP Gautam said: 'Right from the beginning, Naxals would recruit children. Initially they recruited them as Bal Sangam, then Chetna Natya Mandali for propaganda. They are used as carriers and messengers. Once they train them, they become soldiers. This is an old practice'.
Another official told The Indian Express later: 'We have information that Maoists are recruiting 12- to 13-year-olds in their Army and giving them gun training'.
Meanwhile, in his first reaction since the operation was called off, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that security forces had achieved 'a historic breakthrough in the resolve to make the country Naxal-free'. Shah had previously set a deadline of March 2026 to eliminate Left-Wing Extremism.
In his speech, Shah reiterated this deadline, adding that the Indian Tricolour was now 'lying proudly in the hills on which red terror once reigned'.
'Our security forces completed this biggest anti-Naxal operation in just 21 days and I'm extremely happy that there was not a single casualty in the security forces in this operation,' he said.