Three Maoists, including Sahadev Soren, who had a Rs 1 crore bounty on his head, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district on Monday. Police said the encounter broke out in the Pantitri forest under the Gorhar police station limits around 6 am between the squad of Sahdev Soren of the banned CPI (Maoist) and the security forces. "The bodies of Sahadev Soren, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore, and two other Maoists have been recovered during the search operation," he said. The search operation is still going on, he added.
"In a joint operation, the Central Reserve Police Force and Jharkhand Police have neutralised three Naxals and recovered three AK-47 rifles. Those neutralised in the operation include Sahadev Soren (Central Committee Member having a bounty of Rs 1 crore), Raghunath Hembram (Special Area Committee Member and Rs 25 lakh rewardee), and Virsen Ganjhu (Zonal Committee Member and Rs 10 lakh rewardee). The operation was conducted on early Monday in Pantitri forest in Hazaribagh's Gorhar area around 4.20 am," the CRPF said in a statement.
How many politburo and central committee members are left?
Several prominent Maoist leaders have been killed till now. According to several available reports, this has shrunk the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'s politburo to just four active members: Muppalla Laxman Rao alias Ganpathy, Thippiri Tirupathi alias Deoji, Misir Besra alias Sunirmal, and Mallojula Venugopal alias Abhay. Apart from these four, only 14 Central Committee members remain active. The deaths of leaders such as Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, Bhaskar alias Mailarapu Adellu, and Narasimha Chalam alias Gautam alias Sudhakar, have already dealt a serious blow to the group's core structure and the killing of Sahadev Soren adds to the growing list.
Several notorious Maoist cadres killed so far
It should be noted that in 2025, the valiant troops of 209 CoBRA have achieved remarkable success in anti-Maoist operations, neutralising 20 hardcore Maoists, including two Central Committee Members, two BJSAC Members, four Zonal Committee Members (ZCMs), two Sub-Zonal Committee Members (SZCMs), three Area Committee Members (ACMs), and several other notorious cadres.
The troops of 209 CoBRA have recovered 32 sophisticated automatic weapons, 345 kgs of explosives, 88 detonators, 2500 live ammunition, and large quantities of warlike stores from the area.
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