India: Deepening Containment In Maharashtra – Analysis

By Deepak Kumar Nayak

On October 21, 2024, five Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres were killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in a forest area under the Bhamragadh Taluka (revenue division) in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra. The slain Maoists were identified as Sukhmati, Rita aka Deve and Jaya (women cadres), and Basant and Saoji (male cadres). Many criminal cases, including encounters, arson, murder, etc., were had been registered against these Maoists, who carried a combined bounty of INR 3.8 million. One Policeman also sustained injuries in the encounter. Police also recovered five guns from the encounter site. 

A press release, subsequent to the incident, issued by the office of the Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) stated, “In view of the November 20 elections, a group of Maoists had gathered in the forest on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border for the last two days and was planning an attack. As many as 22 teams of C-60 commandos and two squads of the CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] under the supervision of senior officers launched an anti-Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] operation. As soon as they reached the area, the SFs faced indiscriminate firing from Naxalites. The security personnel immediately retaliated, and in the ensuing exchange of fire, five Maoists were killed. “

Earlier, on July 17, 2024, 12 CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter between C-60 commandos and Maoists at Wandoli village in Gadchiroli District. 12 bodies of Maoists were recovered from the spot along with seven automatic weapons, including three AK-47s, two INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifles, one carbine, and one SLR (self-loading rifle). Two SF personnel, including a C-60 sub-inspector and one jawan, were injured in the encounter.

SP Neelotpal disclosed, “Credible information was received yesterday morning that 12 to 15 members of Korchi-Tipagad and Chatgaon-Kasansur joint Local Organisation Squad (LOS) are camping in a forest area near Chhattisgarh border in Wandoli village with an aim to carry out subversive activities in view of the upcoming Martyrs’ Week observed by Naxalites (between July 28 and August 3). Entire Korchi-Tipagad and Chatgaon-Kasansur LOS of Naxalites, including three senior cadres of the rank of divisional committee member, five area committee members and four Dalam (squad) members carrying a total reward of Rs 86 lakhs [INR 8.6 million] were wiped off in the encounter. Most of north Gadchiroli has been cleared of armed Maoist formations.”

On May 13, 2024, three Maoists were shot dead in an encounter near Katrangatta village in Bhamragad Taluka in Gadchiroli District. The killed Maoists included Permili Dalam (armed squad) ‘commander’ Vasu Samar Korcha, who carried an INR 2.2 million bounty; Reshma Madkam, an ‘Area Committee Member’ and Kamla Madavi. Arms, including three automatic weapons — one AK-47, one carbine, and one INSAS assault rifle — and Maoist literature and other belongings were recovered from the incident location. “Korcha and the two women were the last of the three remaining members of the dalam. The trio was trying to mobilise villagers and plan subversive activities,” SP Neelotpal said. At one time, the Permili Dalam lorded over a 1,000-square-kilometres patch in the Maharashtra.

These incidents in Gadchiroli are indicative of the deepening containment against the rebels in the district, with the aggressive action against the Maoists resulting in the decimation of the rebel formations.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 24 Naxalites have been killed by SFs in the Gadchiroli District in 2024 (data till October 27). During the corresponding period of 2023, SFs had neutralised four Naxalites, and another two rebels in the remaining period of 2023, taking the total to six Naxalites through 2023. Two Naxalites were neutralised in 2022, and another 49 in 2021. 

On the other hand, in the fight against the Naxalites, SFs have not lost a single trooper in the district in the current year (till October 27). During the corresponding period of 2023 also, no SF trooper was killed, nor any in the remaining period of 2023. Moreover, no SF fatality was registered in 2022 as well as in 2021. The last SF fatality was recorded on August 14, 2020, when a Police Constable, Dushyant Nandeshwar (26) was killed while another Constable, Dinesh Bhosale was injured when a CPI-Maoist ‘action team’ shot them in a market at Kothi village under Bhamragad tehsil in Gadchiroli District.

Significantly, since 2021, the SFs have emphatically crushed rebel activities/developments in Gadchiroli. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting Naxalite violence and activities in the district and the State, the kill ratio emphatically remained in favour of SFs in 2006 at 1:16.5; 2007 at 1:4; 2008 at 1: 1.75; 2011 at 1: 2.22; 2013 at 1:3.85; 2016 at 1:11; 2017 at 1: 4.66; 2018 at 1: 25.5; and 2020 at 1:3. On the other hand, the Maoists got the better of SFs in 2005, with a ratio of 2.12:1; 2009 at 1.40:1; 2010 at 5:1; 2012 at 2.6:1; 2014 at 1.1:1; and 2015 at 2:1. Nevertheless, the overall kill ratio in the district remained in favour of SFs at 1:2.09.

In the interim, according to the SATP database, SFs have already arrested nine Naxalites in 2024 (data till October 27) in the Gadchiroli District, in addition to seven in 2023. 366 Naxalites have been arrested in the district since March 6, 2000. Moreover, at least 12 Naxalites have surrendered in 2024, in addition to three in 2023. 281 Naxalites have surrendered in the district since March 6, 2000. The total number of arrests in the state is 490 since March 6, 2000, while 307 Naxalites have surrendered.

Civilian fatalities, a key index of security, have been following a cyclical trend in the district, without considerable relief. Three civilians have been killed in the district in the current year (till October 27). During the corresponding period of 2023, the Maoists killed one civilian. Through 2023, five civilian fatalities were recorded, in addition to five civilians killed in 2022 and four in 2021. The most common alibi given by the Maoists targeting the civilians was that their victims were working as ‘informers’ or ‘spying’ for the Police. 

Several other parameters indicate that the Naxalites are losing their sway in Gadchiroli and are also unable to orchestrate significant violence or disruptive activities due to aggressive SF consolidation in the district over the past four years and 10 months, since 2020. No major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) in the civilian or SF category have been reported since 2020. At peak, four such incidents each were recorded in 2009 and 2010. Eight arson-related incidents have been recorded since 2020 – three in 2020, one in 2021, three in 2022, and one in 2023. At peak, 11 such incidents were recorded in 2019. The Maoists have engineered one incident of explosion since 2020, on May 27, 2019, during an exchange fire with a team of elite C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli District. At peak, five such incidents were recorded in 2005. 

Gadchiroli, with a total area of 14,412 square kilometres, of which 11,694 square kilometres, i.e., 78.40 per cent, fall under forest cover, has, for long, provided an ideal and safe landscape for the Maoists to operate in, as the task of locating and sanitising extremists’ sanctuaries becomes difficult due to the exigencies of the terrain. Moreover, the district shares borders with Chhattisgarh, the worst Naxalite-affected Indian state, as well as with Telangana, historically the heartland of the insurgency, making it a perfect hideout for the Maoists. As a result, the district emerged as the epicentre of LWE violence in Maharashtra. Since March 6, 2000, Gadchiroli has recorded at least 721 Maoist-linked fatalities, including 166 SF personnel, 348 Maoists, 195 civilians and 12 in the unspecified category. At its peak in 2009, Gadchiroli recorded at least 99 fatalities, including 52 SF personnel, 37 Maoists, and 10 civilians. Thereafter, however, the district has seen a noticeable weakening of rebel strength.

According to an October 25, 2024, media reportage, 10,000 additional paramilitary forces, approximately 150 drones, and 100 anti-mine vehicles have been deployed for poll preparations in Gadchiroli and Gondia, the two Maoist-affected districts of Maharashtra, to contain any potential sabotage the rebels during the upcoming Assembly election on November 20, 2024. SFs focused on sealing off the borders with neighbouring states, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh, from where Maoists could sneak in to disrupt polling. Further, SFs also decided to launch joint operations in the heart of the Maoist headland, Abujhmadh, to cut off possible entry and exit routes. The passage connecting Abujhmadh and the Maoists’ alternative stronghold in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone is also being cut off, with strong deployment. 

Sustained SF efforts to completely sanitise the ostensible ‘Red Corridor’ are essential to restoring an enduring peace in Gadchiroli and the region. The declining trends in violence in the district suggest that Maoist capacities are at a terminal stage in this erstwhile area of dominance. Aggressive operations to consolidate the gains are necessary to establish a lasting peace in the region. 

• Deepak Kumar Nayak
  Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management