New Delhi: Days after the state was declared free from red terror, a team of security personnel on December 15, Monday unearthed a major Maoist’s dump from Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Balaghat district. The search operation was launched following inputs received from the surrendered Maoists.
Acting on the inputs, a joint team of security personnel recovered a large sum of cash, explosive material and weapons from separate Maoist’s hideouts. The dump was buried in the forest regions of the district.
The recovery included of 4 semi-automated rifles, a bolt action rifle, a grenade launcher and eight pump action single shot rifles. The security team also seized around 16 kg of explosive materials along with recovering around 450 live cartridges and 26 magazines.
Other than explosives and weapons, the team also recover cash worth around Rs 11.57 lakhs stored in a large tiffin box. 5 electric detonators, spikes metals, medical kits and other materials were also seized during the campaign.
Earlier on December 11, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav declared MP free from red terror. In a post on X, the CM announced “Today with the surrender of last two Naxals in Balaghat, MP has become Naxal-free after three decades.”
The announcement came after surrender of as many as 42 Maoists active in the Maoist’s MCC zone covering forested pockets of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh in the last one and half month. Those who laid down weapons included of central committee member Ramdher. The surrendered Maoists were carrying a collective reward of Rs 7.7 crores. Only three districts of the state namely Dindori, Balaghat and Mandala were affected with the Maoist-insurgency.
Security forces have tightened grip on red terror by establishing more than 375 security camps in Maoist-affected areas across the county since 2019. Out of the said camps, 74 have been opened up in 2025 alone with more than two dozen coming up in Abujhmad, a region notorious for Maoist’s presence.
The forces during anti-Maoist campaigns have neutralised around 1100 Maoist operatives since 2019 with more than 5500 surrendering weapons before officials, announcing their return to the mainstream. Other than this, over 7000 Naxal operatives were also arrested, as per a recent release by the Union Government.
