MUMBAI: The Maharashtra police on Thursday felicitated IPS officer K P Raghuvanshi and other officers who had served in Gadchiroli at a function at the state police headquarters.
“Raghuvanshi was honoured at the hands of DGP Sadanand Date for his fight against Maoism in the Gadchiroli belt,” said a police officer. “Gratitude was also expressed to the families of the 244 police personnel who were killed in the anti-Maoist struggle.”
In the early 1980s, an armed Maoist squad known as a dalam began entering southern Gadchiroli from the Telangana region, marking the influx of the Maoist movement into Maharashtra. The commandos are trained in the country’s elite institutions, including the National Security Guard campus, Manesar, the Police Training Centre, Hazaribagh, the Jungle Warfare College, Kanker, and the Unconventional Operation Training Center, Nagpur. The officer said that Raghuvanshi’s sterling achievement was the founding of C-60, an elite anti-Naxal commando unit of the Maharashtra police, which played a crucial role in eliminating 363 Maoists, arresting 558 and getting 861 to surrender. The district became free from armed Maoism in May 2026, according to government records. Raghuvanshi, who was then Superintendent of Police, formed C-60 on December 1, 1990. In 1982, following the division of the Chandrapur district, the newly created Gadchiroli district had sparse administration and scattered tribal settlements, which the Maoists exploited along with the injustice faced by tribals on such issues as tendu leaf-picking wages and forest rights. “Under these difficult circumstances, Raghuvanshi formed the C-60 of 60 commandos with the aim of recruiting locals who knew the terrain and spoke the Gondi and Madiya tribal languages to fight the Maoists on their own ground. “We currently have 29 teams of the C-60, 961 personnel in Gadchiroli and nine teams of 166 personnel in Gondia. They are supported by 164 drones, 64 mines-protected vehicles, 20 bomb detection and disposal squads, and 17 dog squads,” said the police officer. The C-60 unit is trained for combat on difficult battlegrounds such as dense forests and hilly terrain.
“Today, it is to his credit that there is not a single armed Maoist in the state,” he said. “The C-60 unit played a crucial role in the fight against Maoists in Maharashtra,” said the police officer. “Due to Gadchiroli’s 76% dense forest cover, landmines, IEDs planted on roads and shelter provided by various organisations along the inter-state border, traditional policing methods proved insufficient,” said the police officer. “I feel indebted to Maharashtra police for honouring me,” said Raghuvanshi.
