The killing of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju and around two dozen Maoists, including his fleet of bodyguards, was the result of a 21-day operation where the anti-Naxal forces focused on dividing them into smaller groups to blunt any efforts of retaliation.
The operational tactics of the Chhattisgarh police had been supplemented with efforts of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the last several months, where the focus has been to lay down security infrastructure in Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Dantewada, while operations were carried out in Kareguttalu hills on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border.
It is here that the most wanted leadership of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army's battalion No 1 - the deadly military arm of the banned outfit, along with the Dandakaranya Special zonal committee, Telangana, were operating.
A carefully laid out plan by the Central and state security forces focused on area domination to spread out in the region, which was followed by multiple precise operations against the Maoists, which resulted in around 21 encounters and killings of several members of the military wing.
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This prompted Basavaraju to split with the ranks of hundreds and create smaller groups. Security sources said the tactics that have been employed by the Maoists in the past to unleash attacks on security forces were used on them this time in a precise manner.
Basavaraju, who has been instrumental in some of the deadliest attacks, like the Dantewada ambush of 76 CRPF personnel in 2010, was this time left with no choice but to try to protect himself from ongoing operations. The chase in Kareguttalu hills finally led him into isolation in Abujhmad along with a small team, where the District Reserve Guards, the anti-Naxal arm of Chhattisgarh police, gunned him down in an encounter. Sources said weapon-making facilities, IED manufacturing materials and communication devices found in the Maoist dens were destroyed by security forces, lending a body blow to the military wing of the banned outfit.
