The ‘Mystery’ Maoist Doctor From Panjab

After the Indian union’s latest counter-insurgency Operation Black Forest on Maoist guerrilla fighters in central India, information has begun to surface on the mystery ‘Maoist doctor'—Dr. Rafiq alias Mandip, a qualified doctor originally from Panjab. He joined the movement and worked for years in Dandakaranya, a vast forested area spanning the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and Maharashtra. Much of what is known about him has remained outside official records, emerging only now through surrendered Maoists who described Dr. Rafiq as the only formally trained doctor to have joined the Communist Party of India (Maoist). According to surrendered Maoist Venkatraju alias Chandu, Dr. Rafiq treated both Maoist cadres and Adivasis, authored detailed medical manuals on bullet injuries, malaria, snake bites, and wartime trauma care, and trained local youth as paramedics. Anti armed-left insurgency intelligence sleuths also confirmed his identity and said that he moved out of Dandakaranya to Jharkhand in 2016 and remains at large. Chandu says, ‘Dr. Rafiq was revered by cadres, militia members, and Adivasis alike for his medical services for many years in Dandakaranya. He trained multiple locals and cadres in first aid, stitching sutures when a bullet hits, and how to remove the bullet.’ In 2013, the police described him as capable of performing surgeries and heading the Dandakaranya medical team. Later in 2018, police had information about Rinki, wife of Dr. Rafiq, who was said to have treated Prashant Bose, a senior Maoist leader. Chandu says, ‘The doctor is revered as a god by locals. People used to come from far away just to see him’. Dr. Rafiq’s detailed medical manuals present a standardized treatment for war injuries, bullet wounds, snake bites, malaria, gastroenteritis, and trauma care under forest conditions that circulated across Maoist divisions. Chandu recalls an incident when a Maoist suffered a gunshot wound with the bullet lodged just centimeters from the heart. Rafiq, working with minimal resources, was able to remove it. Training a generation of forest medics, Dr. Rafiq quietly built medical capacity. He also documented jadibuthi—traditional herbal medicine derived from forest plants. This knowledge, passed on by Vaddes (priests) among the Adivasis, was incorporated into Maoist medical manuals.