The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into about half a dozen Maoist violence cases, including the January ambush on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur and the killing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ratan Dubey in the state’s Narayanpur in November last year, people familiar with the matter said.

The agency will also look into the role of supporters of Madvi Hidma, the commander of Battalion-I of People’s Liberation Guerilla Army of Maoists, suspected to be behind a recent spate of attacks in the region.

“A larger conspiracy by Maoists to regain the lost ground by targeting security personnel, politicians, and civilians is being investigated. We have taken up eight cases linked to Maoists in the last few weeks,” said an official, who did not want to be named.

On January 16, Maoists attacked the CRPF camp in Bijapur and claimed that three security personnel were killed in a gunbattle that followed. The security forces denied the claim. Ratan Dubey, the vice president of BJP’s Narayanpur unit, was hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon in Narayanpur in November 2023 while he was campaigning.

An Improvised Explosive Device blast in Chhattiagarh’s Kanker during Chhattisgarh assembly elections last year is among other cases the NIA has taken up. Individuals suspected to be working for Maoists have been arrested in Chhattisgarh over the last few months.

Officials said the recent spate of violence was part of attempts to revive Maoist insurgency as security forces have entered their core areas. “Hidma, the leader of the military battalion, appears to be planning these violent attacks to keep Maoists relevant. But he is unlikely to succeed as multiple agencies are working together towards a plan to eliminate Left-wing extremism [LWE] in the next couple of years,” said a counter-insurgency official, who did not want to be named.

Hidma, a strategist in guerilla warfare who carries a reward of close to ₹40 lakh on his head, has been behind Maoists’ deadliest ambushes on security forces in the last decade, including the 2017 Burkapal attack in which 24 CRPF personnel were killed. Congress leaders were among 27 people killed in the 2013 Jheerum Ghati ambush. The 2010 Dantewada ambush left 76 people dead.

According to the Union home ministry, security forces have set up 199 new camps in the LWE-affected areas since 2019 for area domination. In January, Union home minister Amit Shah said the LWE problem has been essentially confined to some pockets within Chhattisgarh.