Operation Karregutta: Security forces take control of Dhobey hills in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Chhattisgarh’s Bastar Fighters, District Reserve Guard, CoBRA and CRPF forces launched major offensive as part of Operation Kagar against Maoists on the information that naxals took shelter on Karregutta hills on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border

Kothagudem: In a significant development in Operation Karregutta, security forces have taken control of Dhobey hills near Karregutta in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.

It might be noted that Chhattisgarh’s Bastar Fighters, District Reserve Guard, CoBRA and CRPF forces have launched a major offensive as part of Operation Kagar against Maoists on the information that the naxals took shelter on Karregutta hills on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.

On the ninth day of the anti-naxal operation on Wednesday an Indian Air Force helicopter landed on Dhobey hills where it was planned to establish a base camp for the security forces.

Video clips of a helicopter landing on the hills and security personnel waving Indian flags in a celebration akin to capturing a foreign territory were released by the Chhattisgarh Police. Senior officials were said to have reached the spot to take stock of the situation.

The security forces were said to have claimed control of Neelam Saray hills near Karregutta hill range a few days ago. It was said that top Maoists such as Hidma, who leads PLGA battalion No. 1, was among those who took shelter on Karregutta hills. He managed to escape from the area on learning about the operation.

According to sources, Operation Karregutta was planned on the lines of ‘Operation Octopus’, launched by the CRPF and Jharkhand Police in 2022 to gain control over the heavily mined Burha Pahar hill range in Garhwa district of Jharkhand. In an interesting similarity, CPI (Maoist) Venkatapuram-Wazedu Area Committee secretary Shanta earlier in April claimed that they had planted IEDs on Karregutta hills.

It might be recalled that the security forces treading the treacherous Karregutta found a cave, described as the naxals’ cave, on the sixth day of the operation. The cave was said to be big enough to give shelter to a thousand persons, but no traces of naxals taking shelter were found in it, except for a Shiva Linga, reportedly worshiped by the local tribal people.

In the wake of Operation Karregutta, several political parties as well as people’s organisations, besides the CPI (Maoist) appealed to the State and Central governments to declare ceasefire and to hold peace talks. Unmindful of such appeals the government was moving ahead with its anti-naxal offensive.

In a recent statement, Maoist Central Committee spokesperson Abhay claimed that as many as 10,000 security personnel surrounded Karregutta and six Maoists were killed in the operation.