Maoists admit Telangana unit chief among 18 dead

The Maoist’s Telangana cadre chief is among 18 members killed in a fierce gunfight in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur on Thursday, the group said in a statement

The Maoist’s Telangana cadre chief is among 18 members killed in a fierce gunfight in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur on Thursday, the group said in a statement, confirming what police described as a major blow to the insurgency.

Security personnel after an encounter with Naxalites, in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Friday. (PTI)

A posse of thousands of security personnel launched an operation deep inside forests after intelligence tip-offs. Immediately afterwards, state police said they had found 12 bodies.

On Saturday, the insurgents released a press note sayings among the dead was Bade Chokka Rao, also known as Damodar, the secretary of the CPI(Maoist)’s Telangana cadre.

“Naxals have accepted the loss of 18 cadres including that of Telangana state committee cadre [head] Damodar. It is a big setback in one of their important stronghold areas,” said Suderaj P, the inspector general of police, Bastar range.

The official added that the Maoists also said there were casualties among security forces and police had carried out atrocities against villagers “just to keep up the devastated morale of their cadres” but described these as “totally baseless and untrue”.

Thursday’s gunfight took place in the dense forests of the Pamed-Basaguda-Usoor axis of Bijapur district in South Bastar division.

Damodar succeeded Yapa Narayana, also known as Haribhushan, as the Telangana unit’s leader after the latter’s death due to Covid-19 in 2021.

The Maoist central committee, headed by Nambala Kesava Rao, also known as Basava Raju, preferred Damodar to another leader, Koyyada Sambaiah, or Azad, from the same district as the Telangana state committee secretary because of the former’s expertise in military operations.

On January 6, the group struck a security convoy in Bijapur, leading to the death of eight security personnel and a civilian.

According to the Telangana police, Damodar had more than 90 cases filed against him in Warangal, Mulugu – his home village, Bhupalpally and Kothagudem and carried a reward of ₹25 lakh.

A native of Mulugu district, Damodar joined the Maoist movement in late ‘80s. His elder brother Bade Nageshwara Rao, also known as Prabhakar, and his wife Rajeshwari too rose to top positions in the insurgency in Dandakaranya region before they were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tadwai forests in 2013.

Damodar’s niece Bade Nagajyothi (daughter of Bade Nageshwar Rao), is now a leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

On Friday, police claimed that the head of Battalion number 1 -- Barse Deva and Mandvi Hidma — who head the central company were also in the encounter but managed to escape into the jungles.

Security forces have killed roughly 31 insurgents in encounters since January 1 with an intention of eradicating Maoist violence in India by March 2026. Last year, security forces killed 219 Maoists in the state, much higher than the 22 killed in 2023 and the 30 in 2022.

The string of high-profile encounters are aimed at pushing back extremists, taking over their jungle hideouts and crippling their fortifications. The most killings have occurred in Bijapur this year.