Top Naxal leader with Rs 1 crore bounty  5 others killed in Odisha op

In a major operation in Kandhamal, Odisha, top Maoist leader Ganesh Uike, who carried a bounty of Rs 1.1 crore, and five others were neutralised on Thursday. 

Lauding the efforts of security forces, Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X: "With this major breakthrough, Odisha stands at the threshold of becoming completely free from Naxalism. We are resolved to eliminating Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026."

Uike was one of the six remaining members of the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) and in charge of Maoist operations in Odisha. He, along with five other Maoists, was killed in an overnight gunfight with a joint team of security forces which started on December 24.

The police said Uike, 69, was the most senior Maoist active in Odisha and his elimination was a significant blow to the Naxal command structure in the region.

“Ganesh Uike played a key role in planning and coordinating armed activities across multiple zones. A central committee member, he was also known by aliases Rupa, Rajesh Tiwari, Chamru and Pakka Hanumantu,” said Sanjeeb Panda, Additional General of Police (Anti-Maoist Ops), Odisha.

Acting on a tip from the Special Intelligence Wing (SIW), a joint operation was launched by 20 Special Operations Group (SOG) units of the state police, two CRPF teams and one BSF team in Kandhamal’s Chakapad police station area and the Rambha forest range.

When the gunfight ended on Thursday, the police said the bodies of four Maoists – two men and two women - were found in the area. Two Maoists were also killed by a mobile SOG team from Kotgadh on Wednesday.

This year, nine members of the CPI (Maoist) central committee, including four in Chhattisgarh, two each in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh and one in Odisha have been killed in encounters with security forces.

The central committee members who have been killed are Ramachandra Reddy, aliases Jairam and Chalapati; Gautam alias Sudhakar; Modem Balakrishna; Raju Dada, alias Katta Ramachandra Reddy; Kosa Dada, alias Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy' Sahadev Soren, alias Pravesh; Vivek, alias Prayag Manjhi; Madvi Hidma; and Metturi Joga Rao, alias Tech Shankar.

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Courtesy: The Tribune -26-Dec-2025