India: Maharashtra, Gadchiroli On The Road To Peace – Analysis

By Deepak Kumar Nayak

On June 27, 2024, two women Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres carrying a cumulative reward of INR 1.6 million on their heads surrendered in Gadchiroli District. A release from the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP) identified them as BalialiasRambattialiasZarina Narote (28) and ShashikalaaliasChandrakalaaliasManisha Uike (29), both ‘platoon party committee’ members of the proscribed CPI-Maoist ‘company No. 10’. The surrender of these two women, with rewards of INR 800,000 each on their heads, comes within a week of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee Member (DKSZCM) Giridhar, who was the district's top Naxalite [left Wing Extremist, LWE], and his wife Sangeeta Usendi laying down arms. A total of 21 cases are registered against Narote, comprising 10 related to encounters, one each of arson and abduction, and nine related to other offences. Uike has eight cases against her name, of which six are related to encounters.

On June 23, 2024, CPI-Maoist ‘commander’ Nangsu TumarettialiasGiridhar (44), involved in major Naxal activities and carrying a cash award of INR 2.5 million, surrendered along with his wife Sangeeta UsendialiasLalita (35) in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Gadchiroli District. Giridhar is an ambush and improvised explosive device (IED) specialist, whose efforts had fortified Maoist headquarters Abujhmarh and strongholds along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border. He and his wife faced around 220 criminal charges and carried bounties totaling INR 4.1 million (Giridhar INR 2.5 million and Lalita INR 1.6 million).

On June 10, 2024, a wanted CPI-Maoist cadre, KishoraliasMukesh Kannake (37), with an INR 200,000 reward on his head, surrendered before the Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Gadchiroli District. After joining ‘Jan Militia’ (the people's army of the Maoists) as a member in 2014, Kannake quickly rose in the ranks and became the head of multiple Maoist factions like the Revolutionary People’s Council (RPC) and Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Sangthan (DAKMS). He was involved in three encounters, four murders, setting multiple vehicles ablaze, planting explosives in forests, and propagating the Naxalite ideology. In a statement to the Police, Kannake revealed that many senior Maoist leaders not only exploited the tribal youth but also misused funds. He added that many tribals were killed by their leaders, suspecting them to be ‘police informers’.

These incidents of surrender are indicative of the growing disillusionment among cadres in the district.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least six Naxalites [Left Wing Extremists, LWEs] have surrendered in Gadchiroli District since the beginning of 2024 (data till June 30). During the corresponding period in 2023, no surrender was reported. However, three Naxalites had surrendered in the remaining period of 2023. A total of 273 Naxalites has surrendered in the district since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting Naxalite violence and activities in the district and the State, as well as across the country. The first incident of surrender was registered on May 22, 2003, when 16 Naxalites of the People's War Group (PWG) surrendered at Ghot village, Gadchiroli District. The Naxalites surrendered during a ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’ (Public Awareness Campaign) to create awareness among the villagers about Naxalite activities and also to bring back misguided youth to the mainstream.

Meanwhile, SFs have arrested seven Naxalites in the District in the current year (data till June 30, 2024), in addition, to seven cadres in 2023. A total of 364 Naxalites has been arrested since March 6, 2000. Significantly, the first incident of arrest was recorded by SATP on December 8, 2007, when Police detained three CPI-Maoist cadres from Jhadapapda village under Pendry Police Station limits in Gadchiroli District. The arrested Maoists were involved in several incidents in the neighbouring Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.

According to the SATP database, Gadchiroli has recorded eight fatalities (one civilian and seven Maoists) in Maoist-related violence in the current year (data till June 30, 2024). During the corresponding period in 2023, five fatalities (one civilian and four Maoists) were recorded in the district, while another six fatalities (four civilians and two Maoists) were recorded in the remaining period of 2023, taking the total to 11 fatalities (five civilians and six Maoists) through 2023. Significantly, while there has been an increase in overall fatalities in the current year, as compared to 2023, a closer analysis of the numbers suggests that the situation on the ground has actually improved. No fatality has been recorded in SF category thus far in 2024 (data till June 30, 2024). 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 an CPI-Maoist ‘action team’ shot them in a market at Kothi village under the Bhamragad Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District.

Significantly, the overall SF:Naxalite kill ratio has remained in favour of the SFs, at 1:1.99, since March 6, 2000. However, the SFs have been ever more dominant since September 2020; (September 1, 2020, to July 30, 2024), killing 69 Naxalites, without losing any of their own personnel. Replying to a question in an interview on June 17, 2024, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal, thus stated,

August 2020 was the last day in which Gadchiroli police had suffered any casualty. They had laid IEDs on our patrolling routes which we defused successfully. This year we have busted four camps. We seized three IEDs in three separate instances this year. There have been eight instances of exchange of fire this year in which we have neutralised seven Naxals. We have recovered several AK 47s, carbines and rifles. Four Naxals surrendered this year.

The security scenario in the district improved dramatically after the successful major assault [LINK: SAIR-20.21] of November 13, 2021. In the encounter initiated by Commando-60 (C-60, the special anti-Maoist Force of the Maharashtra Police) units in the Mardintola forests of the Gyarapatti area in Korchi Tehsil (revenue unit) of Gadchiroli District, the Maoists lost 27 top ranking cadres, including top Maoist leader Milind Baburao Teltumbde aka Deepak Teltumbde aka Sahyadri aka Jeeva, a ‘central committee’ member and ‘secretary’ of the CPI-Maoist ‘Maharashtra State Committee’, carrying a reward of INR five million on his head. Teltumbde was the ‘head’ of the MMC (Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) confluence zone of the rebels and was instrumental in building the Maoist movement in the State, along the Gondia, Balaghat and Mandla regions in Madhya Pradesh and the Rajnandgaon region of Chhattisgarh, over the preceding two decades. After his elimination, Maoist strength in the region declined substantially.

Moreover, in a recent assault on May 13, 2024, after 39 years, commandos in Gadchiroli crushed the Permili Dalam (armed squad) formation of the Peoples' Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), severing the supply chain to the Maoist headquarters in Abujhmarh. In the encounter, Permili Dalam, ‘commander’ Vasu Samar Korcha, who carried an INR 2.2 million bounty, was killed along with two women cadres, Reshma Madkam and Kamla Madavi, both members of Company No. 10 of Perimili Dalam. Reshma was also an ‘area committee member (ACM)’ of the PLGA. The Permili Dalam, established by educated Telugu youths, had turned Gadchiroli into the epicentre of Maoist violence since 1985, was one of the five armed formations under the South Gadchiroli division of Maoists in Dandakaranya zone, and was crucial for providing logistic support to insurgents in the ‘red corridor’, linking the north-south axis in the Maoist-affected district, spanning 14,400 square kilometres in northeastern Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, civilian fatalities, a key index of security of an area, have followed a cyclical trend in the district. One civilian fatality has been registered in the district in the current year (data till July 30, 2024). During the corresponding period of 2023, one civilian fatality was recorded, and another four in the remaining period of 2023, taking the total to five 2023. A maximum of 36 civilian fatalities was recorded in 2011, while a low of one fatality has been recorded on three occasions, in 2002, 2004, and 2024 (data till June 30, 2024).

According to a June 17, 2024, report, people from seven villages in Gadchiroli District have come together to stop Naxals from entering their villages. During an agricultural event, villagers gave copies of their decision to the Police at Dhodraj Station. The villages include Parayanar, Nelgunda, Kucher, Kawande, Gongwada, Mundapalli, and Mahakapadi. Further, according to a June 25, 2024, report, another six villages have taken commendable initiatives against the Naxalites. The villages include Aldandi, Bhatpar, Gopnar, Koir, Murungal, and Moradpar. The villagers of these 13 villages have opposed Naxalites and stopped providing them rations and water. Speaking on this initiative, SP Neelotpal observed,

13 villages have united today and declared a village bandh for the Naxalites. They have declared that they will not give food, rations, and water to the Naxalites. Also, the villagers have deposited the Naxalites' cooker IED bombs, wires, batteries, 300 rods, and 5 loaded guns at the Gadchiroli police station. 

Meanwhile, during an interview on June 17, 2024, while replying to a question on the support of the locals to the Police in combating Naxalism, SP Neelotpal, noted,

We invested heavily in community policing, Police Dadalora Khidki, and Project Udaan. It has reached to 6.5 lakh beneficiaries in the last three years. These initiatives have led to winning hearts of people in Gadchiroli. Naxals rely on ground support for their execution of low-exposure warfare. Now, the people are not supporting them or not giving information about the location of the Police parties. This has also led to zero recruitment from Gadchiroli in the last three years in the Naxal fold. 

Gadchiroli has a total area of 14,412 square kilometres, of which 11,694 square kilometres, i.e., 78.40 per cent, fall under forest cover. The district has, for long, provided perfect topography for the Maoists to operate, as the task of locating and sanitising rebel hideouts is made difficult by the terrain. Further, its borders with four districts — Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, and Rajnandgaon — in Chhattisgarh, the worst Naxal-affected Indian state, as well as two Maoist-affected districts — Adilabad and Karimnagar — of Telangana, make it an ideal safe haven for the Maoists. Gadchiroli emerged as the epicentre of Maoist violence in Maharashtra and, at its peak in 2009, had registered at least 99 fatalities, including 52 SF personnel, 37 Maoists, and 10 civilians. Subsequently, however, the district has seen a perceptible decline in impact and influence.

Several other parameters also indicate that the Maoists are losing control in Gadchiroli since the major assault of November 13, 2021. Apart from the cadre’s disillusionment, there has been noticeable waning in the other indicators of Maoist disruptive actions. No major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) have been reported since November 13, 2021. At peak, eight such incidents were recorded in 2006. Four arson-related incidents have been recorded since November 13, 2021 – three in 2022, and one in 2023. At peak, 11 such incidents were recorded in 2019. Significantly, the Maoists have been unable to engineer an incident of explosion since 2019. The last explosion was orchestrated by the rebels on May 27, 2019, when CPI-Maoist cadres exchanged fire with a team of elite C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli District, in which Maoists used an Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL). At peak, five such incidents were recorded in 2005.

The Maoist influence and their impact are on a decline in Gadchiroli, one of their crucial strongholds in the past, a strategic confluence zone connecting Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. Sustained and aggressive consolidation against the Maoists by SFs and outreach by the civilian administration can ensure that the residual movement is eventually eradicated.

• Deepak Kumar Nayak
  Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management