STRIKING AT THE TOP

NOVEMBER HAS BEEN A MONTH OF DEBILITATING LOSSES FOR THE MAOIST INSURGENCY IN INDIA. THEIR LEADERSHIP IS IN TATTERS AFTER THE ELIMINATION OF FOUR TOP LEADERS

- Amarnath K. Menon, Kiran D. Tare and Amitabh Srivastava

On November 13, when the Gadchiroli Police received intelligence that outlawed Maoists had gathered in the Gyarapatti jungles near the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, little did they imagine they had a prize catch in store. For nearly 10 hours, men of the elite C-60 force locked the militants in a gun battle, killing 26 of them. Among the dead was Milind Teltumbde, 61, a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee (CC), the core group that coordinates the activities of the splinter groups of the outlaws and their supporters in different pockets across India. He’s also the man who reportedly steered the Maoists in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) region. Security officials believe that with the killing of Teltumbde, the Maoists are considerably weakened in the region.