Flying 15,000ft above the ground, Israeli-made drones are taking pictures of Chhattisgarh’s Maoist fortress of Abhujmad through fog and darkness and sending real-time stills and videos to the National Technical Research Organisation.
Aided by the NTRO’s analyses of the photos, videos and other data, attacks are being launched against the insurgents deep into their forested strongholds that the forces till recently found impossible to penetrate.
Last week, the NTRO’s inputs underpinned a successful operation that killed 14 Maoists including Jairam Reddy alias Chalapati, a senior leader. “The strategy now is to wipe out the Maoists’ top leaders,” a security official attached to the Union home ministry said.
Sources said the rebel leaders next on the forces’ radar included Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, general secretary of the CPI Maoist who too has a bounty of ₹1 crore on his head.
The Chhattisgarh government has put ₹1 crore rewards also on Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devji alias Kuma Dada, Madvi Hidma, Katakam Sudarshan of Telangana and four others. Nine Maoists carry ₹40 lakh bounties.
Muppalla Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathy, former CPI Maoist general secretary, has a staggering bounty of ₹3 crore on his head. Although he resigned in 2018, his influence and involvement in the movement are far from over, sources said.
“Three Maoist politburo members with ₹1 crore on their heads are said to be hiding inside the Abhujmad forests. They are Basavaraju, 70; Devji, 61; and Sonu, 69,” an official said.
Misir Besra alias Bhaskar, Prayag Manjhi alias Vivek, Asim Mandal alias Akash, and Patiram Manjhi are the others with ₹1 crore rewards on their heads. They are on the radar of the Jharkhand police.
“Armed with NTRO inputs, security personnel are entering so-far-inaccessible areas and setting up more forward posts in the forests of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra,” the home ministry source said.
Officials said a large number of special police officers (SPOs) had been recruited in Chhattisgarh over the past couple of years. The SPOs are mostly tribal youths with anti-Maoist leanings or former rebels. They have excellent local knowledge that comes in handy when security forces conduct operations.
The security forces are working to meet the deadline of March 2026 set by Union home minister Amit Shah to wipe out Maoism from the country, an official said.
“If this intense offensive continues, we hope the Maoist problem will be brought largely under control by next year’s deadline, even if it is not wiped out completely,” he added.
Sources said the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker, Chhattisgarh, had turned into a war room where senior security officials were drawing up strategy before launching an attack.
The college is located at the northern tip of the Maoist-infested Bastar region, which extends into the dense forests of Abujhmad and abuts Maharashtra and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The Abhujmad forest, spread over 3,900sqkm, is part of the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency. Intelligence reports suggest the rebels have complete control over the forests and have built several camps to provide arms training to recruits.
The offensive is being carried out jointly by the BSF, CRPF and Chhattisgarh police.
“Earlier these top Maoist leaders wanted Chhattisgarh to be the Yan’an of India but their days are numbered,” a home ministry official said, referring to the Chinese city that served as the fulcrum of the Chinese Revolution in the 1930s and 1940s.