'Their Maoism is a facade only to become leaders in society,' argues former IPS officer Mahendra Kumawat, who has extensively dealt with Naxalites.
The clearance to raise the 10,000-strong Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), under the command and control of the Central Reserve Police Force, was given last evening by the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by the prime minister.
A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.
A Central Reserve Police Force jawan of the specialised COBRA unit was killed and a Deputy Commandant injured in a fierce encounter with Maoists at Chiklam village in Jharkhand's Naxal-hit Ghatsila sub-division on Wednesday.
A base of the newly-created elite Cobra Force of the Central Reserve Police Force is being set up in Assam to augment internal security measures in the need of insurgency-hit Northeastern states where Maoists are trying to find a foothold of late.
Eight Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday. The gunfight broke out in the forest when District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force of the state police along with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were out on an anti-Naxalite operation. An Insas rifle and a barrel grenade launcher (BGL) were among the weapons recovered from the encounter site. This brings the total number of Naxalites killed in separate encounters in the state this year to 50.
This is one of the biggest casualties suffered by the elite COBRA unit that undertakes special jungle warfare ops.
The Naxalites, 10 of whom are women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), he added.
Three personnel, including two of major-rank and one naib subedar, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra, the ministry said.
In a separate incident, a commando of the Central Reserve Police Force's jungle warfare unit CoBRA was injured when a pressure improvised explosive device (IED), planted by Naxalites went off in the district, police said.
Twelve of the 16 Naxalites killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district have been identified as dreaded ultras carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 3.13 crore, including a central committee member of the outlawed movement, a police official said. Among them was Chalpathi alias Jairam, a member of the central committee and Odisha state committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), who had a collective bounty of Rs 90 lakh on his head in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It was the first time someone from the central committee, the main governing body of the proscribed outfit, has been eliminated in an encounter in Chhattisgarh. The encounter, which lasted three days, involved personnel from E-30 (a Gariaband district police unit), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and Odisha police's Special Operation Group (SOG).
Five more bodies of personnel belonging to the elite anti-Naxal force Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have been recovered from the Dantewada Forests in Chattisgarh.
In an unusual case of 'mass bunking' being confronted by the Central Reserve Police Force, 59 trainee commandos of its elite jungle warfare and counter-Naxal squad Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have gone missing from a train just before they were to report for duty in the Left Wing Extremism-hit theatre of Bihar as part of their first deployment.
Deva recently replaced Hidma as commander of the Maoists' battalion no. 1, the IG added.
The 39-year-old officer was bestowed with the PPMG, the highest police gallantry award, for skillfully killing a terrorist holed up in a building in Kashmir on June 21, 2020, officials said.
Over 100 Naxals on Wednesday ambushed a team of security forces in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt of Bastar on the eve of Lok Sabha polls, killing three commandos of CRPF's CoBRA battalion and injuring five others including two officers in twin attacks.
President Droupadi Murmu conferred 26 Shaurya Chakras (seven posthumous) to personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory Police during a defence investiture ceremony.
Six Naxalites, including "deputy commander" Punem Nagesh, his wife, and another female cadre, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Wednesday, a police officer said.
Security forces help tribal woman in labour pain to safely reach hospital.
A joint team of multiple forces are undertaking the offensive to target some senior and most-wanted Naxal commanders, official sources said.
They were identified as LOS commander Erra and woman cadre Podiyam Bhime, deputy commander of the same squad, Sharma said.
The much anticipated full-fledged operation of the special anti-Naxal force -- Cobrain Left-wing extremism-hit states is set to start soon.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday informed that 10 tribal militants involved in the killing of Hamren police district Superintendent Nityananda Goswami and his personal security officer Ratul Nunisa have been arrested during the intensified operation launched by the Assam police and paramilitary forces in Karbi Anglong hill district of the state.
At one location, seven bodies of the troops were recovered and the tree trunks bore bullet shots, indicating that a fierce gun battle took place in the area.
In this photograph, which is being circulated on social media, Manhas, a commando with the 210th CoBRA battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), is seen sitting in a hut alone without any Naxal in the frame.
Nearly 500 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action, engaged in anti-Maoist operations in West Midnapore district, were the first to reach the site where a Maharashtra-bound express train derailed on Friday morning, killing 68 passengers.A CRPF spokesman told reporters that personnel of the 165 CRPF battalion posted at Maoist-affected Manikpara, close to the accident spot, arrived at 2 am and were the first rescuers.
The Maoists rained bullets from light machine guns and used low-intensity improvised explosive devices to mount the attack that went on till evening.
Relatives of a Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commando held hostage by Naxals after a recent gun battle with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway on Wednesday, demanding an assurance from the government for his safe release.
The personnel belonging to the CRPF's elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action unit, the District Reserve Guard and the Special Task Force were involved in the operation.
CPRF women warriors are undergoing training and if they are cleared, they will be inducted into the specialised team.
CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas went missing after the April 3 ambush in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region.
Over 600 bullets and a dozen improvised explosive devices recovered after a gunbattle.
A CRPF commando was killed in an encounter with Naxals in the jungles of Giridih district of Jharkhand on Friday.
In a major joint offensive, separate joint teams of security forces, comprising over 2,000 personnel, had launched an anti-Naxal operation from Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold, on Friday night.
A Central Reserve Police Force personnel was killed and five others were wounded in an armed encounter with Maoists near Panchrukhia forests on the borders of Gaya and Aurangabad districts, CRPF Deputy Inspector General Umesh Kumar said on Sunday.
Officials said while two commandos, identified as constables Linju N and Fateh Singh had succumbed to their bullet injuries on Thursday, their collegaue Lakshman Singh died on Friday.
A contingent of 1,500 personnel drawn from six security camps launched the cordon and search operation against Naxals along Bijapur-Sukma border around the crack of dawn on Saturday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was 'incompetently' executed and 'poorly designed'.
The fight against ultras will be intensified to end the Naxal menace, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday as he took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the killing 22 security personnel in an attack by the rebels in Chhattisgarh.
'Instead of Samaiya Madvi, his mortal remains have reached the new house'
