3 min readHyderabadDec 25, 2025 07:50 PM IST
First published on: Dec 25, 2025 at 01:20 PM IST
Top Maoist leader Paka Hanumanthu alias Ganesh alias Chamru and five other Naxals were killed in an encounter in Odisha in the early hours of Thursday, a development the Centre hailed as a significant breakthrough.
Ganesh, 67, from Telangana’s Nalgonda district, was a Central Committee member of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), a member of the Central Regional Bureau, and the only member of the Southern Regional Bureau. He carried a reward of Rs 1 crore.
Those killed alongside him are yet to be identified.
In a statement, the Union Home Ministry called the development a “significant milestone towards Naxal-free Bharat”. “With this major breakthrough, Odisha stands at the threshold of becoming completely free from Naxalism. We are resolved to eliminate Naxalism before March 31, 2026,” the statement said.
The March 31 deadline has been set by Home Minister Amit Shah and reiterated on several occasions.
According to officials, the exchange of fire followed a tip-off after security forces intercepted a Maoist team. Twenty Special Operations Group (SOG) teams, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) teams and one Border Security Force (BSF) team were deployed in the Chakapad police station area of Odisha’s Kandhamal district and the Rambha forest range in the bordering areas of Ganjam district, with exchanges of fire taking place at multiple locations. Two INSAS rifles were seized from the site, officials said.
Ganesh was considered among the few remaining senior Maoist leaders from the Telugu states, with most others either killed in encounters or having surrendered.
A B.Sc dropout, he joined the Maoist movement at a young age and, according to sources, had never interacted with his family in Pullemla village in Chandur mandal of Nalgonda district. He is believed to have led several high-profile attacks on security forces in the Sukma region, including the May 2013 Jhirham Ghati attack on a convoy of Congress leaders that killed 32 people, including former Chhattisgarh minister Mahendra Karma, state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla.
He was very active in the Chhattisgarh border area. Officials believe a small group of Maoist cadres led by him was moving through Kandhamal, likely on their way to Andhra Pradesh, at the time of the encounter.
As a young student and member of the Radical Students Union (RSU) in Nalgonda, he was suspected of involvement in the March 1981 murder of ABVP leader Achuri Srinivas, who opposed Maoist ideology and was allegedly killed by a group of RSU members.
Ganesh’s AK-47 rifle was recovered from the encounter site in Kandhamal district, sources said.
Another senior Telugu Maoist leader, Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, also from Telangana and the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), remains on the run, with security forces in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh trying to locate him.
Ganesh Uike, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1.1 crore on his head, was killed in an encounter in Odisha. (Representational Photo) 
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