How a Mossad-style op helped security forces spy on Maoists

New Delhi: Maoist leaders Takkelapalli Vasudeva Rao, known as Ashanna, and Mallojula Venugopal alias Sonu have recently gave themselves in. Interrogation reports reveal intelligence agencies had secretly fitted trackers into the Naxals’ electronic communication devices, including their walkie-talkies, The Times of India reported. It was a covert operation carried out in Mossad-style to breach Maoist communications.

The interrogation reports also show that attempts were made by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) to experiment with drones for reconnaissance and attack on security forces. However, they couldn't get the devices in adequate numbers to carry out ‘drone warfare’, the report added.

Police sources were quoted as saying that both slain People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) commander Madavi Hidma and Ashanna were said to have tested drones, even as the outfit started suspecting that its supply chains were being used to carry out spying on them.

The interrogation report of Central Committee member (CCM) Ashanna showed the Maoists carried out drone trial runs in the South Bastar region. Ashanna, who earlier led the military intelligence for the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), told interrogators that the tests were meant to find out how drones could help reconnaissance and surveillance operations.

His report states that the Dandakaranya Special Zone had organised itself to back technical operations through supply lines running through East Bastar and West Bastar.

The group depended on electronic components and chips fitted in explosive devices. The report added that there are at present no ammunition or cash dumps in the Bastar region, and that all IEDs in the MAAD area were neutralised before his surrender.

Sonu’s interrogation report shows that the outfit’s communication network had been compromised even before several senior leaders were killed in encounters. During interrogation, he said that after their secret operations were exposed, the Dandakaranya communication team found trackers and chips clandestinely fitted inside many electronic items like inverters, printers, walkie-talkies, laptops, chargers, cellphones and radios. These had been bought by several underground cadres through couriers from the Telangana State Committee area. He said the cadres then started carrying out inspection on devices for any disturbances to detect tampering.

The report further noted that Vartha Shekar, a Special Zonal Committee member, and his team in Dandakaranya, developed skills at spotting trackers hidden in cellphones, walkie-talkies, mobile chargers, radios, laptops, and other electronic devices.

As their technical wing came under pressure and surveillance intensifying, the Maoists increasingly turned to encrypted email services like Proton Mail to preserve secrecy, the report said.

The interrogation reports also underlined conflicting claims about the outfit’s international presence.