Maoist Leader with ₹1 Crore Bounty Killed in Jharkhand Encounter

Maoist Leader Neutralized in Hazaribagh

A Maoist leader, who had a bounty of ₹1 crore on his head, was killed during a clash with security forces in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand on Monday morning, according to reports from an unnamed official.

The deceased, identified as Sahadev Soren, was a member of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist). His body was found alongside two other suspected Maoists who also perished in the encounter, as stated by police sources.

Earlier, on September 7, another Maoist commander named Amit Hansda, also known as Upton, was killed in a similar confrontation with security personnel in West Singhbhum district.

Hansda, who held the position of zonal commander within the CPI (Maoist), had a reward of ₹10 lakh for his capture.

As of July, reports indicated that 21 suspected Maoists had been killed in 14 separate encounters with security forces throughout Jharkhand.

In the Bastar region of neighboring Chhattisgarh, over 400 suspected Maoists were reported killed in 2024-2025, as stated by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai in June.

In 2024 alone, security forces in Chhattisgarh were responsible for the deaths of 217 suspected Maoists.

Malini Subramaniam has reported that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region were labeled as reward-carrying Maoists by the police, numerous families contest these claims, asserting that the deceased were civilians.

The Union government has consistently pledged to eradicate Maoism by March 31, 2026.