India, Sept. 16 -- Sanjukta Parashar, 47, a 2006 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has become the first woman officer to head the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)'s special counter-insurgency and asymmetrical warfare unit, the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).

Parashar took over CoBRA months after the Union government moved two battalions of the unit to ethnic violence-hit Manipur, where protracted conflict since May 2023 has left over 306 people dead and 49 missing. CoBRA commandos have been conducting raids to nab insurgents and seize weapons stolen from police armouries in Manipur.

CoBRA, which was raised in 2008 at the peak of Maoist insurgency for jungle warfare, played a...