On 2nd June, security forces found 2.5 of the 4 tonnes explosive materials that Maoists had stolen in the Sundergarh district of Odisha. The special operations group (SOG), district volunteer force (DVF), India Reserve Battalion (IRB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Jharkhand’s elite Jaguar Force participated in the coordinated action which was headed by the Odisha police.
A combing operation on the Gandhamardhan Hill range on the Balangir-Bargarh district boundary led to the discovery of the explosives, Maoist uniforms and other materials. Director General of Police (DGP) YB Khurania stated, “Odisha police have been working day and night on a sustained basis to ensure that the entire looted explosive consignment is recovered. All due care is being taken for safety of personnel searching for the explosive materials in the forest.”
According to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG-western range) Brijesh Rai, the recovery operation employed deep search metal detectors (DSMD) to find explosives hidden among dry leaves and buried underground in a forest area along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border.
“SOG (Special Operation Group) is leading the other forces in the search operation. We still have 1.5 tonnes of explosives left to recover. There are natural craters in the forest, which the Maoists have used to hide the explosives. So far, we know that the ultras have hidden the explosives within a four kilometre stretch of forest,” he explained.
An official informed, “While some of the explosives were buried under the earth, others could be located from underneath rocks.” The ongoing hunt started on 28th May, the day after the Maoists stole the explosives when they were being taken to a stone quarry to be used for blasting.
The officer stated that the site was in Jharkhand, some distance from the Odisha border and part of the Saranda forest, but did not provide the precise location of the explosive recovery. However, according to sources, the explosives were discovered near Saranda Forest at Tirilposh, which is on the Odisha-Jharkhand interstate border.
The security forces retrieved some of the explosives after a fierce gunfight with the Maoists on 30th May, finding about 30% of the stolen materials till then. Brijesh Rai also reported that some explosive gelatin sticks were uncovered in a Maoist hideaway in a forest near Koida in Sundargarh district on the Odisha-Jharkhand border, during a search operation.
A senior officer outlined, “To conceal explosives from aerial and ground surveillance, the Maoists buried the explosives underground. An intense search and intelligence inputs helped us to seize the explosives. Efforts are on to recover the remaining explosives.” According to sources, the seized materials will be examined by the police to ascertain their composition and the provenance of the consignment.
Quarry owner violated protocol, NIA initiates parallel probe
On 27th May, a truck brought 200 packets of explosives to the Banko Stone Quarry in Sundargarh district. Each box weighed roughly 20 to 25 kilograms and contained roughly nine gelatin sticks. While the explosives were being unloaded, a group of around 25-30 armed men reached there, threatened the driver and held him at gunpoint. They took the van into a nearby forest and escaped with all the explosives, which included mostly gelatine sticks and detonators.
According to an earlier investigation, the quarry owner did not transfer the explosives in line with the protocol because the vehicle’s route was remote. Maoists took down the CCTV camera that was placed in the quarry, leaving the police in the dark as well. The authorities mentioned that Shravan Agrawal, the proprietor of the quarry, has two explosive licenses: one in his wife’s name and one in his own.
Police are also looking into recent delivery and stock details. The area where the loot transpired was located beside the Saranda forest, recognized as a Maoist hideout in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Police declared, “Soon after the incident, a preliminary enquiry suggested the involvement of naxals active in the Saranda forest under West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.”
An National Investigation Team (NIA) team began probing the incident a day after YB Khurania and other senior police personnel visited the scene. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been established by the Odisha Police for inquiry. NIA dispatched a team to the scene on 27th.
“An NIA team visited Rourkela to investigate the incident. Preliminary probe suggests left-wing extremists operating from Saranda forests in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand were involved in the loot of the blasting explosives,” Brijesh Rai stated previosuly.
YB Khurania hurried to Sundargarh district to evaluate the situation as he was concerned that the stolen explosives would be utilized for subversive purposes. He spent two days camping in Rourkela and met with senior police officers several times to keep an eye on activities to recover the explosives. Additionally, the DGP had instructed police to increase protection in regions that were susceptible.
The loot has raised concerns because Maoists operating in Jharkhand’s Saranda forests use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to carry out attacks as security forces in neighboring states have stepped up their anti-Naxal operations by identifying and neutralizing senior leadership of the banned group. This sparked a significant flush-out campaign along the bordering area by Odisha Police and its anti-Naxal organization Special Operation Group (SOG).
As per the latest details, the stone quarry owner, Shravan Agrawal, who also owns the explosive warehouses, has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team.
End of red terror by March 2026
The Modi administration is determined to eradicate naxalism by March 2026. The government has pursued an aggressive military strategy to confront Naxal terrorism, which is already in its final stages. In recent weeks, extensive operations like “Operation Kagar” in the Karegutta hills and Chhattisgarh Abujhmadh have wiped out dozens of Naxal leaders, who had bounty worth crores on them.
The government launched several operations in January 2024 with the goal of eliminating Naxalism in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra (Gadchiroli), Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. Additional camps were also set up as part of the action by security forces. Around one lakh paramilitary troops, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) units, District Reserve Guards (DRG), and state police, have been deployed in the areas affected by left-wing terrorism to eliminate naxal terrorism from its final bastions.
The government’s zero tolerance policy, along with an aggressive military approach, has bore significant results with the Maoist violence going down by 77% between 2010 to 2021. There has been considerable decrease in the incidents of violence from 2258 incidents in 2009 to 509 incidents in 2021. The number of naxal-affected districts has also reduced over the past 10 years from 106 districts in 2015 to 6 districts (Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, and Sukma in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra). Additionally, the deaths resulting from Maoist terror have reduced by 90%.
The number of Naxalites killed in encounters has increased from 63 to 2089. In 2024, 928 Naxalites surrendered, and so far, 718 have surrendered in the first four months of 2025. From 2019 to 2025, the central forces, in collaboration with state police, have established a total of 320 camps in Naxal-affected states, including 68 night-landing helipads. The number of fortified police stations, which was 66 in 2014, has now increased to 555.
Speaking in the Pariliament in March, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Parliament that Naxalism will be eradicated from the country by 31st March 2026. He stated that between 2004 and 2014, 16,463 violent incidents were registered , but in the last ten years, this number has gone down by 53 per cent. The deaths of security personnel have also reduced by 73% in the past 10 years.
With the Naxal leadership being wiped out steadily by the security forces, the Naxal movement is now staring at its inevitable end. The recent killing of Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, who used to walk around with a multi-layer security cover of about 60-70 armed naxals, demonstrates the enhanced accuracy of the security forces in carrying out recent anti-Naxal operations.
In addition to the removal of prominent Naxal leaders, numerous dreaded Maoists have also surrendered due to the progress made in remote regions as a result of government policies. Since the inception of the operation, the security forces have eliminated over 400 naxal terrorists so far while more than 800 Maoists have given up arms and the numbers are only increasing with every anti-Maoist action.
