Until a seemingly harmless selfie with his wife inadvertently gave away the location of top Maoist commander Ramachandra Reddy, also known as Chalapathi, security forces had eluded capturing him for decades. In a fierce gun battle near the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, the elusive militant was one of 14 Maoists killed.
A joint task force of the Chhattisgarh Police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)”s CoBRA commandos and the Odisha Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) carried out the operation. A coordinated effort eventually led to neutralizing one of the more shadowy figures in India’s Maoist insurgency for years.
Chalapathi also played a big part in one of the biggest Maoist attacks in Odisha. On February 4, 2008, he ordered an attack in the backdrop of Nayagarh that left 13 security personnel dead. Top Maoist leader Ramakrishna (now dead) masterminded the raid, during which the police armoury in Nayagarh town was looted. Chalapathi was the ground commander of the operation and was responsible for ensuring its success and that of the Maoists’ escape after the attack, said a senior officer involved in anti-Maoist operations.
Chalapathi, who kept a low profile and worked with a precision never to be caught dead, was the subject of security force investigations for decades. But when a selfie sent him there in virtual form, it did provide the critical lead that led to his downfall. Innocently shared, but became a vital piece of intelligence, leading security personnel to narrow his location down and plan their strike.
The success of the operation underscores the importance of technology and coordination by multiple agencies in combating insurgency. Chalapathi’s death is a crushing blow to the Maoists’ operations in the region and a further step in Indian security forces’ decades-old battle to wipe out the network of insurgents.
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