Premier task force behind elimination of Maoists

THE District Reserve Guard (DRG), a special combat team of the Chhattisgarh police force, was at the forefront of the 'Operation Black Forest' in which supreme commander of the Maoists Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju was eliminated on May 21 in Narayanpur district of south Bastar.

- EJAZ KAISER

DRG personnel, well-trained with combat capabilities, are deployed in strife-torn Bastar zone with a mission—to take on the challenge of Maoists who have been waging a virtual war against the state for the last over four decades.

DRG as a special combat team came into existence in 2012 in Narayanpur and Kanker. With its personnel showing prowess in anti-Naxal operations, DRG units were later raised in the remaining five districts—Bijapur, Jagdalpur, Sukma, Kondagaon and Dantewada—of the Bastar region. They work under the command of the district police chiefs.