Jharkhand: Rs 10 Lakh Bounty Maoist Killed In Saranda Forest Gun Battle With Security Forces

A Maoist commander with a Rs 10 lakh reward was gunned down by security personnel in a shootout in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on Sunday, police officials said. The operation was carried out at Burjuwa Hill in the Goilkera police station area early in the morning.

The victim has been identified as Amit Hasda alias Aptan, self-styled CPI (Maoist) zonal commander, one of the most-wanted Maoists in this area. Jharkhand Police spokesperson Michael Raj S said, “The body was identified as Amit Hasda alias Aptan, a self-styled zonal commander of CPI (Maoist) who had a Rs 10 lakh reward on his head.”

Under the jurisdiction of Goilkera police station, the security personnel launched the operation after a tip-off on the Maoists’ presence in the Relaparal region. When the team moved forward, the Maoists fled into thick jungles, and the security personnel engaged them in a gunfight. During the search that followed, Hasda’s body was found along with an SLR rifle, explosives, and other weapons, officials added.

DIG Kolhan Anuranjan Kispotta told a news agency that, “There was an encounter between Maoists and security personnel in the morning. A body was found during a search operation later.” The search operation in the region continues, the authorities further added.

Saranda forest and Maoists

This event highlights persistent security issues in Jharkhand, as Maoist organizations persist in areas deep in forests. The elimination of Amit Hasda is considered a major achievement for security personnel in the Saranda forest area, which has long been considered a Maoist hub.

Saranda forest is commonly recognized as the most extreme density of Sal forest in Asia and for many years this forest has provided refuge for Maoists due to its undulating topography, dense canopy coverage and almost inaccessible trails. Saranda has been resting in a triangle among the boundaries of the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. 

Saranda forest is located within known as Red Corridor which freely facilitates Naxal movement across state boundaries and this gives access to and use of a variety of IEDs with combatants will use the terrain facilities to conduct guerilla warfare which limits operational capacity of the security forces. However, security forces continued to launch several operations, thus giving little legitimacy to the Naxalite presence as they were often able to extract and the losses usually presented in casualties to both sides by the way of small arms and IED strikes.

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