India: No Sanctuary Is Safe In Chhattisgarh – Analysis

By Deepak Kumar Nayak

On June 7, 2024, six Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, belonging to the ‘military company number 6’ of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and east Bastar division formations of the CPI-Maoist, one of the notable Maoist attack forces, and carrying a cumulative bounty of INR 3.8 million, were killed in an encounter in a forest near Gobel and Thulthuli villages under Orchha Police Station limits in the Narayanpur District of the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh. Three District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Kachru Ram Korram (45), and constables Manglu Ram Kumeti (47) and Bharat Singh Dharal (23), also sustained critical injuries in the encounter. 

Reportedly, acting on inputs about the presence of Maoists of PLGA military company no. 6 and east Bastar division formations in the villages of Thulthuli and Gobel, personnel belonging to the DRG from four districts – Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Dantewada, and Bastar – and the 45th Battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the 95th Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched the operation. After the encounter, during a search of the site, bodies of six Maoists clad in ‘uniform’ were recovered from different places, along with two.303 rifles, one.315 bore rifle, 10 Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL) shells, one Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) magazine, a cooker bomb, five bags, and a cache of explosives, medicines, and items of daily use. Four of the six slain Maoists were identified as Masiya alias Mesiya Mandavi (32), sniper team ‘commander’ and platoon no. 2 section A ‘commander’; Ramesh Korram (29), ‘deputy commander’; Sanni alias Sundari, party member; and Sajanti Poyam, member of the PLGA company no. 6 under the east Bastar division of Maoists. These four had a reward of INR 800,000 each on their heads. The remaining two slain Maoists were identified as Jailal Salaam, active as Bayanar ‘area committee member (ACM) with a reward of INR 500,000 on his head; and Janani alias Janni (28), with a bounty of INR 100,000 on his head.

On June 5, 2024, armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist launched an attack on the Security Forces’ (SFs’) newly established Police camp in Irakbhatti under Kohakmeta Police Station limits in Narayanpur District. During the attack, the extremists used country-made Barrel Grenade Launchers (BGL) targeting the camp, triggering reaction from the SFs. However, no casualties were reported in the attack.

Confirming the development, Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar disclosed, “Naxalites [Left Wing Extremists, LWEs] fired four BGL rockets on the Irakbhatti security camp in Narayanpur on Wednesday [June 5] to which the security forces replied heavily. Sensing the upper hand of the forces, the Naxals flee the spot under the cover of dense forests, no harm has been made either to camp or the personnel in the attack”.

On June 2, 2024, CPI-Maoist cadres dragged a 45-year-old man, Shaluram Potai, out of his house in Maspur village in Narayanpur District and killed him, claiming he was a ‘Police informer’. The Maoists’ Kutul area committee left pamphlets at the spot, claiming Potai was acting as a ‘Police informer’. 

On June 1, 2024, a mobile tower was set ablaze by CPI-Maoist cadres in Durmi village under Dhaudai Police Station limits in the Narayanpur District. Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar said search efforts were intensified in the area. 

On May 27, 2024, CPI-Maoist cadres set fire to two under-construction mobile towers in Gaurdand and Chameli villages under Chhotedongar Police Station limits in Narayanpur District. 

These incidents are a continuance of the rebels’ struggle to retain their sway in Narayanpur District, which was carved out of the erstwhile Bastar District on May 11, 2007. 

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 22 fatalities (four civilians and 18 Maoists) have been recorded in Narayanpur District thus far in 2024 (Data updated till June 8). During the corresponding period of 2023, four fatalities (three civilians and one SF trooper) were recorded in the district. In the remaining period of 2023, another eight fatalities (six civilians, one SF trooper, and one Maoist) were recorded, taking the total to 12 fatalities (nine civilians, two SF personnel, and one Maoist) through 2023. There were a total of four fatalities (one civilian, two SF personnel, and one Maoist) in the district in 2022, the second lowest in a year since May 11, 2007. The previous low of three fatalities was recorded in 2012. The district recorded a maximum of 42 fatalities (five civilians, 27 SF personnel, and 10 Maoists) in 2010. Since May 11, 2007, a total of 263 fatalities (46 civilians, 82 SF personnel, and 134 Maoists) have been recorded in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-linked violence in the district. 

The rise in Maoist killings in the current year is not surprising, as the recent trend shows an escalation of SF operations to contain the rebels in their strongholds. Significantly, in 2024, SFs have not lost any troopers in the fight against the rebels, and have eliminated 18 extremists. Significantly, the kill ratio was in favour of the Maoists for three consecutive years in 2023 and 2022 at 2:1 (two SF personnel, one Maoist) and in 2021 at 3.66:1 (11 SF personnel, three Maoists). An equal number of fatalities, two each, were recorded in both categories in 2020. However, the SFs had a positive kill ratio in 2019 at 1:6 (one trooper, six Maoists), the last instance in which SF dominance was demonstrated. Nevertheless, since May 11, 2007, with a total of 82 SF personnel and 134 Maoists having been killed in the district, the overall kill ratio is in favour of the SFs at 1:1.63. 

Meanwhile, civilian fatalities, a crucial index of the security situation in an area, have dropped to four in the current year, thus far (Data updated till June 8). During the corresponding period in 2023, at least three civilians were killed in the district; and another six civilians were killed in the remaining period of 2023, taking the total to nine in this category in the year. There has been an improvement with regard to civilian fatalities in the current year, as compared to a peak of nine fatalities in this category in 2023. Civilian fatalities have seen a cyclical trend in the district and a low of a single fatality was recorded in 2022 as well as in 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2020.

Narayanpur District, which has documented at least 22 LWE-linked fatalities (four civilians and 18 Maoists), in the current year, accounts for 13.58 per cent of the total of 162 fatalities, (22 civilians, 13 SF personnel, and 127 Maoists) recorded in Chhattisgarh State. Since May 11, 2007, the district has recorded 263 fatalities (46 civilians, 82 SF personnel, and 134 Maoists), around 8.56 per cent of the total of 3,072 fatalities, (739 civilians, 1,015 SF personnel, 1,304 Maoists, and 14 unspecified) recorded in the state. 

Narayanpur, one of Chhattisgarh’s 32 Districts, created on May 11, 2007, comprises 366 villages, two tehsils (revenue units), Narayanpur and Orchha, and has an area of 6,640 square kilometres. Narayanpur abuts Bijapur and Dantewada Districts in the south; Bastar in the east; Kanker District in the north; and the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra in the west. Surrounded by dense forests, hills, streams, waterfalls, and natural caves, the forest cover of 2,116.915 square kilometres accounts for 32.87 per cent of Narayanpur’s total area. As a result of the difficult terrain and natural protection it offers, Narayanpur has immense ‘geo-strategic importance’ for the Maoists and has long served as a major transit route for the rebels to cross into the Naxalite-affected areas of the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, creating opportunities to orchestrate violence on both sides of the state borders. Because of its large swathe of hilly and forested terrain and proximity to Abujhmaad, large parts of which still remain inaccessible, it is a significant strategic region for the rebels to carry on their subversive activities, and was long a haven for their top leadership. 

In the interim, other parameters of violence suggest that the Maoists are straining to recover this erstwhile area of their dominance. The Maoists were involved in at least five incidents of exchange of fire with SFs in 2024, as compared to one such incidents over the same period in 2023. Through 2023 there were seven such incidents. The Maoists have engineered one incident of an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the current year, and three in the same period of 2023. There were six such incidents through 2023. SFs have recovered arms on at least three occasions in 2024, whereas, at least seven incidents of recovery of arms are on record in the corresponding period of 2023; a total of nine such incidents were recorded through 2023. The Maoists were involved in incidents of arson on at least four occasions in 2023. Three such incidents have already been recorded in the current year. 

Meanwhile, taking tough actions against CPI-Maoist the 53rd battalion of the ITBP destroyed a Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] memorial in the Ekpad area of Kasturmetta in Narayanpur District.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the ITBP wrote, “Today the 53rd Corps C.O.B. Area Domination Patrol operated from Kasturmetta, Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh) gave a strong message to the Naxalites by destroying the Naxalite memorial built by the Naxalites in front of the primary school in Ekpad, Narayanpur area.”

Four such memorials built by the Naxalites were demolished in 2023.

In another action against the CPI-Maoist, on June 5, 2024, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet in the NIA Special Court in Jagdalpur against a CPI-Maoist cadre, Lakhma Ram alias Lakhma Korram, in a case related to the conspiracy to damage and block the Narayanpur-Orchha main road from India Gate, Raynar, to Marghat Raynar, in Narayanpur District, Chhattisgarh, with the intent to kill police personnel and loot their arms. Lakhma Ram has been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005. Lakhma was one of the 35 accused against whom the NIA registered the case on February 29, 2024.

Moreover, on March 8, 2024, the NIA took over the probe into the killing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ratan Dubey in the Narayanpur District, along with approximately seven cases of violence associated with the CPI-Maoist, including the January 2024 ambush on a CRPF camp in Bijapur District and an IED blast in Kanker District. An official stated that the NIA will also investigate the role of supporters of Madvi Hidma, the commander of Battalion-I of the PLGA, the armed wing of the CPI-Maoist, who carries a reward of close to INR 4 million on his head. 

Constant vigil on rebel elements and combing operations have resulted in the arrests of 426 Maoists in the district since May 11, 2007. So far, at least six Maoists have been arrested in the district in the current year. More recently, on March 21, 2024, one couple who used to supply explosives to the CPI-Maoist cadres was arrested by the Police from Taragaon under Dhaudai Police Station limits in Narayanpur District. The couple used to supply explosives to Maoists under the guise of selling amulets. Police seized 208 kilogrammes of explosives and codex wire from their possession. 

Besides, mounting SF pressure also led to the surrender of 727 Maoists in the District. No surrender has been reported in the current year, so far. The last incident of surrender was reported on December 1, 2023, when one Maoist cadre, an active member of the Bhairamgarh Area Committee, involved in many major incidents of violence and whose identity remains undisclosed, surrendered before the Police in Narayanpur District. The Maoist also handed over a five-kilogramme IED while surrendering. 

Despite dramatic SF consolidation, the threat and challenge persist in the District. According to a May 16, 2024, report, following a series of targeted killings of political workers by Maoists since 2023, around 50 village heads of the insurgency-hit Narayanpur District were forced to live in a government compound in the district headquarter for months. Most of these political representatives, who hail from the Chhotedongar area, a hotbed of insurgency for a long time, were stationed here to evade possible targeted killing by the Maoists, who had issued decrees labelling them as “agents of the iron ore mines” being operated in the area.

Earlier, on June 13, 2023, the CPI-Maoist in Narayanpur put up banners and distributed pamphlets threatening the local village heads of Besmeta village with dire consequences if they continued to support development work in the region. The banners were hung up near the Gaytapara village under Orchha Police Station limits in which the local area committee of the Maoists warned local representatives that their hands and feet would be chopped off if they continued to support the construction work of a proposed mine in the area. In a banner put up by the CPI-Maoist Gaytapara area committee, the Maoists accused the Sarpanch (head of the Panchayat, village level local self-Government institution) and the Upa (deputy) Sarpanch of Besmeta village for supporting the proposed mine. The Maoists further claimed that the opening of the mine in the area would have devastating effect on the environment, for which both the village heads would be held accountable. The banner also read: “construction work for a dam is also in progress, which should be stopped immediately. We warn the village heads to stop all these works immediately; otherwise, their hands and feet will be chopped off in the Jan Adalat (Maoist Kangaroo Court)”.

The Maoists are taking a manifest beating in Chhattisgarh as well as across the country. The residual Maoist heartland areas of Abujhmaad in Narayanpur and beyond are now being penetrated by the SFs, and the Maoists are under threat in what were their safest havens. While their retaliation can be expected, and there have been several incidents in the past across Chhattisgarh where the SFs have been at the receiving end, it is evident that the movement is weakening, and the top leadership no longer has a secure sanctuary where they can hide.

• Deepak Kumar Nayak
  Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management