8 Maoists killed in first big encounter in Jharkhand in 2 years

The operation, named ‘Dakabeda’, was carried out by CoBRA commandos, CRPF personnel, the Bokaro police, and the Jharkhand Jaguars – a special force raised to eradicate extremist activities in the state.

The joint forces exchanged fire with the Maoists intermittently since 5.30 am Monday, officials said. In a subsequent search operation, eight bodies, a large cache of arms and daily use items were recovered. Among the recovered weapons were four INSAS rifles, one SLR, and one revolver.

Three of the dead were identified as Prayag Manjhi, alias Vivek, who carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head and was a Central Committee member; Arvind Yadav, a Special Area Committee member; and Saheb Ram Manjhi, a Zonal Committee member with a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. Efforts are being made to identify the remaining five bodies, officials said.

Jharkhand Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta congratulated all the security forces involved in the operation and said the CoBRA commandos acted as the main strike force. He also said a total reward amount of Rs 1.35 crore will be distributed among the security personnel who took part.

He also said that one of the slain Maoists is believed to be another senior leader named Parvez, who was recently inducted into the Central Committee. However, his death is yet to be confirmed, the officer said.

DGP Gupta said the operation was planned overnight and that police currently have accurate, pinpoint intelligence on the location of every active Maoist in Jharkhand.

He made a strong appeal to Maoists in the Saranda region to surrender, underlining what he said was the state’s progressive surrender policy. He warned that operations would soon target Maoist strongholds in Saranda before the onset of the monsoon.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also applauded the security forces after the encounter. “Our march to eliminate Naxalism continues unabated. Today, security forces achieved another significant success in the ongoing operation to uproot Naxalism. In an encounter at Lugu Hills in Bokaro, Jharkhand, 8 Maoists were neutralised, including a top-level Naxal leader, Vivek, who carried a reward of Rs 1 crore, and two other notorious Naxalites. The operation is being continued. Applaud our security forces,” Shah wrote in a post on X.

Shah has previously promised to uproot Maoism from the country by March 2026. Chhattisgarh has seen a major anti-Maoist push from security forces in recent months, with 140 Maoists killed so far this year in encounters in the state.

In Jharkhand, the last major encounter of a comparable scale to Monday’s took place in 2023, when two zonal commanders, and one sub-zonal commander were killed in Chatra district, IG (Operation) Amol Vinukant Homkar said.

“After that, one or two encounters have taken place, but the neutralisation of a Central Committee member carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore has happened for the first time. We had arrested Politburo member Prashant Bose in 2022, who was also carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore. He was arrested along with his wife, who was a Central Committee member,” he said.

The IG said Maoist activities have been in “complete decline across the state”.

“Back in 2020 or 2021, Jharkhand had more than 20 Maoist-affected districts. Today, there is only one. They are now localised to a very small pocket in Chaibasa district, and though they are still operating there, we are hopeful of achieving significant success in that region as well,” he said.