Encounter in the Forest

Subhashis Mittra

The nondescript Korgotalu hill on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border (Bijapur and Mulugu districts of the two states respectively) has suddenly shot into limelight. Certainly not because the hilly tracts are home to wild animals, including bears, insects and bees, apart from water bodies and natural caves. But, for the fact that the dense jungle makes the place an ideal haven for Naxals, making Bijapur one of the six most Naxal violence-hit districts in the country.

Undaunted by the difficult terrain, security forces led by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Chhattisgarh Police units gave a ‘deadly blow’ to the armed cadres of the Naxalites, claiming to have killed 31 Maoists recently.

As collateral damage, a total of 18 troops were injured, some of them seriously, though there was no fatality on the security side. CRPF assistant commandant Sagar Borade lost his leg in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in course of the operation. Five security personnel—three CoBRA commandos of the CRPF, a CRPF jawan and a District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police—were airlifted from Raipur to Delhi and admitted in AIIMS for treatment of injuries. They had to undergo amputation.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the killing of 31 Naxalites along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border underscores that the government’s campaign to root out Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) is moving in the right direction. Modi said his government is committed to establishing peace in the Naxal-affected region and connecting it to the mainstream of development.

Union home minister Amit Shah met the injured in AIIMS, New Delhi. Lauding the big achievement, he described it as a historic breakthrough by the security forces in their resolve to make the country Naxal-free with this killing. “I once again assure the countrymen that India is sure to be Naxal-free by 31 March 2026,” Shah wrote in Hindi on X.

He said the brave soldiers carried out an operation for 21 continuous days on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border and killed 31 Naxalites. The whole country is proud of the bravery and courage of these soldiers, he added.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai celebrated the success with the jawans. “Braving 44 degree C heat, you have shown exemplary courage during the operation. Hats off to your indomitable spirit,” he said at a remote village in Bijapur district, right next to Telangana border, where he shared a meal with the troops to boost their morale.

The forces said the 21-day-long anti-Naxal operation in the Karegutta Hills (KGH) on Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, named ‘Operation Black Forest’, was the ‘biggest coordinated’ operation against the Maoists till date. The ‘decisive operation’ involved 24,000 troops.

The Karegutta hills, which literally translates into the ‘black forest’ hills, are said to be 700 metres high and thickly-wooded, with officials claiming that the terrain makes it difficult to scale. As a result, around a dozen drones were deployed in the operation. The CRPF and the Chhattisgarh Police have described the operation as a major success as they demolished the ‘invincibility’ of the Maoists.

The operation was launched on the basis of specific intelligence inputs about the presence of top Maoist leaders, including those from the Telangana state committee and the heavily armed People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1—considered to be the strongest military wing of the Maoists.

CRPF Director General Gyanendra Pratap Singh and Chhattisgarh top cop Arun Dev Gautam said 21 encounters took place during the operation that began on April 21 at the Korgotalu Hills and ended on May 11 leaving 31 Maoists, including 16 women, dead and leading to the seizure of 450 IEDs, two tonnes of explosives, and a number of rifles among a huge cache of arms and ammunition. As many as 214 bunkers were destroyed and 818-barrel grenade launchers recovered. The slain ultras carried a collective bounty of Rs 1.72 crore.

The raiding forces recovered 35 weapons and a huge quantity of ammunition including automatic, semi-automatic and country-made weapons as well. During the operation, 450 IEDs and a large number of detonators, explosive devices, besides 12,000kg of other material, including medical supplies, electric equipment, Naxal literature, etc, were seized. The forces destroyed four weapons-producing factories of Naxals where generators, drills, motors, and cutters were found.

DG CRPF said the operation, “achieved more than what was targeted” and the force is sure that they will meet the Union government’s deadline of ending LWE from the country by March 2026. “We are undertaking a ruthless and relentless strategy,” he said, adding, the coordinated operation involving CRPF, its jungle warfare commando unit CoBRA and Chhattisgarh Police’s STF and DRG will continue in the future. Singh said the forces were still sanitising the KGH for “residual” IEDs so that the hills can be opened for civilians.

Chhattisgarh DGP Gautam added, “We have demolished their fort (under operation Black Forest) and we have demolished their invincibility during the operation at the KGH.” Gautam said the KGH had become a ‘hiding place’ for the top Maoist commanders apart from being the headquarters of their weapons manufacturing unit, besides providing an ideal site for dumping ammunition. The duo claimed that the top armed Naxal leadership was ‘either eliminated or injured’ in this daring operation.

The area is dotted with 250 caves which are used by Maoists to hide and store arms and ammunition. Around 350 armed Maoists were taking shelter in the KGH and it was estimated that they were there for about 2.5 years. The security personnel found that the Naxals used the 60 kms long and 5-10 km wide KGH as a training and meeting base apart from using it as a medical facility.

In the past two and a half years, Maoists gradually built their base on the hill, which became the refuge of about 300-350 of armed cadre, including the Technical Department (TD) unit of the PLGA that manufactures weapons, and other important organisations. The shifting of Maoists to the Karegutta hill was a result of the increasing dominance of the security forces, who had set up new camps and executed sustained operations in other areas.

The Maoists had formed a Unified Command and taken refuge on the hill as they considered it was impregnable. The anti-Naxal operation, launched in 2014, has been intensified and made more focused since 2019, with central paramilitary forces working ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with state police with a commitment to stamp out Naxalism. As a result, the number of the ‘most Naxal-hit districts’ dropped from 35 in 2014 to just six in 2025 so far, while the number of ‘Naxal-affected districts’ came down from 126 to 18 during the period under review.

Likewise, the number of violent incidents in 2014 was 1,080. It has fallen to 374 in 2024. The number of security personnel killed in Naxal violence in 2014 was 287, which has dropped to 19 in 2024. The number of Naxals eliminated during the period has reached 2,089. As many as 928 Naxals have surrendered before security forces in 2024, while another 718 Maoists have laid down their arms so far this year.

As per official data, 183 Maoists have been gunned down in Bastar this year, taking to 200 the number of Maoists eliminated in Chhattisgarh. As many as 219 Maoists were killed last year in the state, including 217 in Bastar. In the last 11 years, Bastar region—encompassing Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Kondagaon—has accounted for the killing of 1,003 Maoists.

Since 2018, Maoists had executed several deadly attacks in Bastar, including in Tekalgudem (Bijapur) where 22 security personnel were killed in 2021, the 2020 Minpa ambush (Sukma) wherein 17 security personnel lost their lives and Shyamgiri attack (Dantewada) in April 2019 in which BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed.

Headline: Another big kill within days of Karregutta Op

Days after ‘Operation Black Forest’, security forces gunned down 27 Maoists in a fierce encounter in Narayanpur in Bastar region during a coordinated anti-Maoist operation in the dense forests of Abujhmad located at the tri-junction of Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Dantewada districts.

The operation was initiated based on intelligence inputs about the presence of top leaders from the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, Politburo, and senior cadres of the Maad Division and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). A jawan from the District Reserve Guard (DRG), part of the Chhattisgarh Police, was martyred, while a few others were injured.

But, their ‘huge success’ was the killing of 70-year-old Nambala Keshav Rao, widely known as Basavaraju, who was the general secretary of CPI (Maoist). Basavaraju, considered the top leader and ideological backbone of the Naxal movement, hailed from Andhra Pradesh and his death marks a pivotal success in anti-Naxal operations. An expert in guerrilla warfare, he took over as general secretary of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) in 2018, replacing Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganpathy, who held the position since 2004.

A BTech from NIT, Warangal, Basavaraju was known for orchestrating numerous deadly attacks on security forces. He carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head in Chhattisgarh alone. Additional bounties were announced in other states, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana. The cumulative bounty was to the tune of Rs 10 crore declared by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and various state governments.

A native of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, Basavaraju was a key figure in the Naxal movement since the Seventies. He rose to the top leadership of CPI (Maoist) about seven years ago, around the time of a noticeable decline in Naxalite activity in Bastar. He was wanted in numerous major attacks against security forces in Chhattisgarh.

Basavaraju was known for his military expertise, particularly in training and explosives. He was recognised by various aliases, including Prakash, Krishna, Vijay, Umesh, and Kamlu. Security agencies guessed that Basavaraju could be 70-71 years old, with only older photographs available for identification.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the security forces for their ‘remarkable success,’ while Union home minister Amit Shah called it a ‘landmark achievement’ in the campaign to eradicate Naxalism. Shah said the hallmark of the operation was that for the first time in three decades a Maoist leader of general secretary rank had been neutralised. ‘General secretary’ is the highest post among the Naxalites. A three-layered ring of armed cadres that he kept around him in forests had so far made him untraceable by security forces. Not surprisingly, an AK-47 rifle was found next to his body.

Praising the security forces, Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said: “Jaari hai vijay ka shankh naad, khatm ho raha naxalwad (victory march continuing, Naxalism end coming).” Meanwhile, the Left parties demanded a judicial probe into the encounter, with the CPI saying that the ‘cold-blooded killing’ of the senior Maoist leader ‘instead of lawfully arresting him’ raised serious concerns about the State's commitment to democratic norms.

In a statement, the CPI (M) politburo said repeated appeals from the Maoists for talks were ignored, and the centre and the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government chose not to pursue a solution through dialogue. “Instead, they are following an inhuman policy of killings and annihilation. The statements made by the Union home minister, reiterating the deadline, and the chief minister of Chhattisgarh’s statement that there is no need for talks reflect a fascistic mindset that appears to celebrate the taking of human lives and are against democracy,” the CPI (M) said.

Taking to X, CPI general secretary D Raja said the CPI strongly condemns the cold-blooded killing of senior Maoist leader along with several Adivasis in Chhattisgarh. It is yet another instance of extrajudicial action carried out under the guise of counterinsurgency operations. “If the authorities had credible intelligence about the whereabouts of the leader, why was a legal arrest not pursued? Why was due process guaranteed by the Constitution so blatantly ignored,” he posed, and demanded an independent judicial inquiry into the incident and the entire Operation Kagar.

Echoing similar views, the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation strongly condemned the cold-blooded extra-judicial killing of ‘Comrade Keshav Rao and other Maoist activists and Adivasis in Narayanpur-Bijapur.’ It too demanded a judicial probe.