IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar has taken charge as Inspector General of the CoBRA Sector of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), becoming the first woman to lead the elite jungle warfare force. The CRPF headquarters issued the order in the second week of September 2026, placing the 2006-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer at the head of the 10-battalion force in New Delhi in place of Danesh Rana. The appointment links her long counter insurgency record in Assam and investigative tenure with the National Investigation Agency to one of India’s toughest internal security commands.
Who Is Sanjukta Parashar?
Sanjukta Parashar is a 2006-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, widely known as the Iron Lady of Assam. The Indian Police Service is the all India service that provides senior police leadership to states and central forces on deputation. She was born on 3 October 1979 in Assam and completed her early schooling in Guwahati.
Parashar studied Political Science at Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, and then completed a masters degree in International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. She later completed MPhil and PhD research work on the foreign policy of the United States. In the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, she secured All India Rank 85 and chose the IPS over the administrative service to work in the field.
Her early field career shaped her reputation for frontline policing. After her first posting as Assistant Commandant at Makum in 2008, she handled ethnic clashes between Bodo groups and migrants in Udalguri. As Superintendent of Police of Sonitpur during 2013 and 2014, she personally led teams into forested terrain against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), an armed militant group active in Assam. In about 15 months, her teams neutralised 16 militants and arrested more than 60 insurgents, and her photograph carrying an AK-47 during operations became well known across the state.
Parashar later moved to national investigation work. She served with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) between 2017 and 2023, first as Superintendent of Police and later as Deputy Inspector General (DIG). The NIA is India’s central counter terrorism investigation agency, which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is headquartered in New Delhi. Before joining the CRPF on central deputation, she headed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police. The Ministry of Home Affairs posted her as Inspector General in the CRPF in August 2026, and the CRPF headquarters assigned her the CoBRA Sector in September 2026.
What Is the CoBRA Force?
CoBRA stands for Commando Battalion for Resolute Action. It is the specialised jungle warfare and guerrilla warfare unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Guerrilla warfare means small armed groups use ambush, surprise raids and knowledge of forests and hills to fight larger forces. CoBRA was created for exactly this kind of combat.
The Union Government approved the creation of CoBRA in 2008 to counter the Naxalite movement, also called Left Wing Extremism. This refers to armed Maoist groups that operated from forest belts across central and eastern India, known as the Red Corridor. The force was formally raised on 12 September 2008. Two battalions were raised in 2008-09, followed by four battalions in 2009-10 and four more in 2010-11. All ten battalions were ready for deployment by 2011.
CoBRA functions as an integral part of the CRPF and its personnel are selected from within the CRPF itself. The CRPF is India’s largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and works under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The CRPF was first raised as the Crown Representatives Police on 27 July 1939 and was renamed as the Central Reserve Police Force through the CRPF Act passed on 28 December 1949. Its headquarters is in New Delhi. Within this large force, CoBRA is the elite arm trained to live, move and fight inside dense forests.
The identity of the force rests on three pillars of courage, zeal and patriotism. Its motto is Victory for the gallant in war, expressed in Sanskrit as Sangrame Parakrami Jyi. Members are often called jungle warriors because they are trained to survive in harsh forest conditions and win there.
Training is long and physically demanding. Personnel train in commando tactics, jungle survival, camouflage, map reading and use of the Global Positioning System, intelligence collection, ambush and counter ambush, helicopter based insertion, fast roping and bomb disposal. Basic and refresher training takes place at the CRPF jungle warfare institutions in Belagavi in Karnataka and Koraput in Odisha, and at the dedicated CoBRA School of Jungle Warfare and Tactics (CSJWT) located in the forests of Belagavi. The school was declared a permanent institution in 2013 and 2014 and also trains personnel from other forces.
Ten Battalion Network and Sector Headquarters in New Delhi
The CoBRA Sector commands 10 battalions with a combined strength of about 10,000 personnel. Each battalion has around 1,000 trained commandos. The sector is headed by an officer of the rank of Inspector General (IG), a senior rank in the police hierarchy that commands a sector comprising several battalions. Sanjukta Parashar now holds this command in place of 1996-batch officer Danesh Rana.
The Sector Headquarters controls planning, training standards, deployment and coordination with state police and other central forces. It started functioning at the CRPF Directorate General at CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, under its first IG K. Durga Prasad. It shifted to Pushp Vihar in March 2009 and has functioned from the Old Secretariat at Civil Lines, Delhi, since 11 November 2009.
The ten battalions are spread across extremism affected and forest heavy states so that they can operate close to the field:
| Battalion | Base Location | State |
|---|---|---|
| 201 CoBRA Battalion | Karanpur | Chhattisgarh |
| 202 CoBRA Battalion | Sunabeda, Koraput | Odisha |
| 203 CoBRA Battalion | Hazaribagh | Jharkhand |
| 204 CoBRA Battalion | Masgaon | Chhattisgarh |
| 205 CoBRA Battalion | Barwadih | Bihar |
| 206 CoBRA Battalion | Chintapur | Maharashtra |
| 207 CoBRA Battalion | Salboni | West Bengal |
| 208 CoBRA Battalion | Balaghat | Madhya Pradesh |
| 209 CoBRA Battalion | Khunti | Jharkhand |
| 210 CoBRA Battalion | Dalgaon | Assam |
The heaviest deployment remains in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where CoBRA teams hold and secure large forest areas reclaimed from Maoist groups and conduct long range patrols, reconnaissance and precision strikes. Units have also served in Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. Two battalions are deployed in Manipur to support efforts to contain armed violence linked to ethnic tensions. This spread shows why the force must master both jungle warfare and work with local police in very different terrains.
How Does One Join the CoBRA Commando Unit?
There is no direct civilian entry into the CoBRA force. Candidates must first join the Central Reserve Police Force as constables, sub-inspectors or officers through Staff Selection Commission or Union Public Service Commission exams, and serving CRPF personnel are then selected for CoBRA on fitness and volunteer basis.
In practice, CoBRA draws volunteers from within the CRPF who meet very high physical and mental standards. Selected personnel must complete the CoBRA Commando Pre-Induction Training, which lasts about three months and tests endurance, field craft, firing, small team tactics and jungle survival. Only those who clear this course join a CoBRA battalion for anti extremism duties. Officers join CoBRA on deputation or posting from the IPS and CRPF cadre and command battalions and the sector. There is no separate CoBRA examination after Class 10 or Class 12, and preparation therefore means joining the CRPF first and building fitness for jungle operations.
How Many CoBRA Commandos Are There in India?
India has ten CoBRA battalions with a total strength of about ten thousand commandos. Each battalion holds roughly one thousand personnel, and all ten battalions operate under a single CoBRA Sector Headquarters in New Delhi commanded by an Inspector General.
This size has stayed stable since the last battalions were raised in 2010-11. The number refers only to CoBRA’s specialised jungle warfare battalions and does not include the CRPF’s general duty battalions, Rapid Action Force battalions for riot control, Mahila battalions composed of women personnel, or signal and VIP security units. When two CoBRA battalions move to a state like Manipur, they move as complete units from this fixed pool, which is why deployments in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and the northeast must be balanced carefully.
Why the First Woman Leadership Matters
Sanjukta Parashar’s posting is the first time a woman officer has headed the CoBRA Sector since its creation in 2008. CoBRA is a combat heavy command where teams conduct long patrols, night ambushes and operations deep inside forests. Leadership at this level decides training quality, intelligence planning and coordination with state forces. Her background brings together two skills that this role needs, which are direct counter insurgency field command and experience in terrorism investigation at the national level.
The appointment also reflects a wider change inside the CRPF. The CRPF maintains six Mahila battalions composed of women personnel and has placed women officers as Inspectors General of several sectors, including Jammu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, the northeast and the Rapid Action Force (RAF). The RAF is the CRPF’s specialised wing for controlling riots and large crowds and is headed by officer Seema Dhundia. Parashar now extends this pattern to the force’s most specialised jungle warfare sector.
The timing adds weight to the responsibility. Security operations have sharply reduced Maoist influence in its former strongholds, with the government reporting near elimination of organised Left Wing Extremism by March 2026. CoBRA units are now engaged in holding reclaimed forest areas in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, preventing regrouping and supporting road building and administrative outreach. At the same time, two battalions remain tasked in Manipur. Command in this phase needs consolidation rather than only strikes, and Parashar’s mix of Assam field policing and NIA case work places her at the centre of that shift.
The milestone also connects to a longer history of women in police leadership. Kiran Bedi became the first Indian woman to join the officer ranks of the IPS in 1972 and later became the first Indian and first woman to head the United Nations Police Division in 2003. More than five decades later, the appointment of the first woman to command CoBRA shows how that opening has moved from entry into the service to command of its toughest operational formations.
Key Takeaways
- Sanjukta Parashar took charge as Inspector General of the CoBRA Sector in September 2026, becoming the first woman to lead the force.
- CoBRA stands for Commando Battalion for Resolute Action and was raised on 12 September 2008 to fight Left Wing Extremism through jungle warfare.
- The CoBRA Sector commands 10 battalions with about 10,000 personnel and is headquartered at the Old Secretariat, Civil Lines, New Delhi.
- Parashar is a 2006-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre with All India Rank 85, known as the Iron Lady of Assam for neutralising 16 militants in Sonitpur.
- Kiran Bedi became India’s first woman IPS officer in 1972, providing the historic context for Parashar’s first woman command of CoBRA.
