Hyderabad: With the Telangana police declaring curtains down on naxalism in the state, the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), which served as the nerve centre for anti-naxal intelligence gathering for more than three decades, is organising an informal reunion of all the officers to celebrate its success.The event will be held in the city on Friday.While Prabhakar Rao’s name — he served as the SIB chief during BRS tenure for several years — is reportedly missing from the list of invitees, as he faces charges for his alleged involvement in the phone-tapping case, several other prominent IPS officers who held top posts (either as chief of Intelligence or SIB) are expected to be in attendance at the gathering. This includes Arvind Rao, M Mahendar Reddy, B Shivadhar Reddy, VC Sajjanar, Naveen Chand, Anil Kumar and several others who ran the anti-naxal operations from close quarters.The SIB, anti-naxal intelligence wing, and anti-commando force Greyhounds was formed in 1991, when left-wing extremism (LWE) in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was at its peak.There were officers who continued for several years in SIB post-retirement due to their expertise in anti-naxal operations. Most of them saw the peak of the movement and with changing time came up with counter-strategies, including successful covert operations in gathering intelligence.After Congress govt came to power in 2023, SIB officials under SIB chief B Sumathi kept tight vigil on the borders as there was strong anticipation that the naxals might try to enter Telangana due to the heat of Operation Kagar. In tune with state government’s policy, the police encouraged surrender of Maoists. In the last six months, hundereds of maoists including Central Committee members laid down their arms.
