Police sources say that another obstacle comes in the form of the “well-knit” Naxal structure, which starts from village squads and then up the hierarchy to area, zonal, special area and regional committees until the top-level Politburo.

In addition, the Maoists’ operations are given their strategic edge by military commissions, propaganda bureau, specialised guerilla and base forces.

Inspector general of police (operations) S K Bhardwaj, the man in charge of anti-Naxal operations refrained from detailing police strategies and its constraints in tackling the Naxal menace. He, however, said: “As short-term measures, the police conducts raids, long-range patrolling and search operations. The police has fortified 137 police posts.” Besides, a 400-member Greyhound trained STF, 23 companies of CRPF, 16 BMP battalions, and 7,000 SAP jawans besides usual district police forces are there to tackle Maoists, he said.