At least 3 Naxalites with a joint reward of Rs 1.35 crore were killed in Pati Piri forest in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, Superintendent of Police Anjani Anjan gave information on Monday.
According to Hazaribagh SP, there was a reward of one crore rupees on the Central Committee member Sahadev Soren (aka) Parvesh.
Another ineffective member, Raghunath Hembram, was a member of the Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee and had a reward of Rs 25 lakh. At the same time, there was a reward of Rs 10 lakh on Birsen Ganjhu (aka Ramkhelavan), a member of the regional committee.
Police have recovered several weapons including an AK-47 from the spot. The encounter is still going on and the security forces are looking for other Naxalites.
Earlier on Sunday, a joint search operation was carried out by 209 Cobra Battalion and Hazaribagh Police, during which an encounter with Naxalites took place in Pati Piri forest under Gorahar police station area of Hazaribagh district.
Earlier in July, there was another encounter with CCM member Sahadev Soren in which a security officer was martyred. According to Bokaro SP Harvinder Singh, a 209 battalion soldier was shot during a search operation conducted by Bokaro police. Officials were informed that the group was “going to carry out a major incident”.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Rakesh Ranjan, earlier on September 7, a prominent leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), banned in Chaibasa, was killed during the shootout.
The Maoist zonal commander, also known as Amit Hansda, had a reward of Rs 10 lakh, there were more than 95 cases against him and was reportedly involved in the murder of several police officers and citizens.
Police said the campaign was started on 6 September after receiving intelligence information, indicating that the top Maoists were planning to carry out a major attack and trying to recruit new workers.
