The Greyhounds’ last leap

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The Greyhounds force was created by late IPS officer K.S. Vyas to take on Maoist insurgents on their own terrain. Within a few years, the striking unit evolved into one of the most specialised counter-insurgency units in the country, developing tactics suited to jungle warfare. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The bullet struck N.V. Satya Srinivas Rao in the chest. His bulletproof jacket stopped it, but the impact knocked his rifle from his hands and sent him to the ground.

Then came the second shot. This time, the bullet found a gap in the jacket. It entered Rao’s abdomen from the left side, tore through his body and exited on the other side.

It was November 30, 1992. Rao, then 26 and barely a year into the Andhra Pradesh Police, had entered a house in Baddepalli in erstwhile Karimnagar district with three other Greyhounds personnel. They were hunting a group of Naxals belonging to the Chandra Pulla Reddy group. Five bodies already lay scattered around the house.

Rao noticed Sardar, the commander of the dalam. Injured but still alive, the Naxal had positioned himself behind the bodies of his fallen comrades, using them as sandbags. He raised his weapon and fired at Rao.

The young cop fought for his life for nearly 25 days before being discharged from the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad on Christmas day.

“I was the first man to enter that house, and took a bullet. The training at Greyhounds made us fearless,” he says. “The scars remind me of that day and how we fought the Naxals. It was a second birth for me.”

The Greyhounds was born out of a realisation that conventional policing was proving inadequate against the growing influence and armed strength of the Maoists. The then Andhra Pradesh government wanted a force that could take the fight into the forests and match the insurgents on their own terrain.

In 1989, IPS officer K.S. Vyas created the Greyhounds to combat the Maoist insurgency. Within a few years, the striking force had evolved into one of the country’s most specialised counter-insurgency units, operating deep inside forests and developing tactics specifically suited to jungle warfare. It also became a model for other States seeking to create specialised units to fight insurgencies in difficult terrain. Odisha raised its Special Operations Group, Maharashtra its C-60, West Bengal its Counter-Insurgency Force and Chhattisgarh its District Reserve Guard. Even the CRPF’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), drew from the Greyhounds’ model.

“We are fearless. We never miss our target and have the highest success rate in the country,” says DGP (Operations) Anil Kumar, who currently heads the Greyhounds.

This is Kumar’s third stint with the elite force. He previously served as an ASP and later as a Group Commandant (Operations).

“In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, I have fought against Naxals and faction groups.