Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) got a maximum of 32 Police Medals for Gallantry (PMG), including 14 posthumously, in anti-Maoist operations.
In a similar offensive in Odisha last year, BSF constable Xavier Kindo had laid down his life.
Young CRPF Assistant Commandant (AC) N Manoranjan Singh and his team displayed valour when CoBRA (Combat Battalion for Resolute Action) commandos led by him unearthed a big arms manufacturing unit of the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada in 2009.
This operation, senior officials say, marked the beginning of a sustained offensive against Maoists in the country. The drive was termed 'Operation Greenhunt' in certain quarters as this codename was never officially endorsed by the government.
The operation left six CRPF personnel dead and as many injured.
"During a search operation on September 16, 2009, in village Singhanmadgu in Dantewada, a CoBRA team unearthed an illegal arms factory of Naxals and destroyed it. While returning they were surrounded, waylaid and ambushed by heavily armed Naxalites.
"Manoranjan Singh helped his party to move out safely from the ambush zone. On seeing the rear troops still trapped in ambush, he rushed to rescue them. He fought valiantly and rescued his colleagues, but in the process sacrificed his own life," the official citation and record of events for this operation stated. (MORE)