A Maoist commander was killed in a gunfight with security forces in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand on Sunday morning, the Hindustan Times quoted police as saying.

Amit Hansda, alias Upton, was the zonal commander of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and reportedly carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, police added.

West Singhbhum Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ranjan told the Hindustan Times that around 6.30 am on Sunday, a joint team of the district police, Central Reserve Police Force, its specialised Commando Battalion for Resolute Action and the Jharkhand Jaguar anti-Maoist task force launched a search operation in the Relaparal forest after receiving inputs about suspected Maoists in the area.

A gunfight reportedly broke out around 8 am.

“The security forces retaliated with heavy firing,” the newspaper quoted Ranjan as saying. “The body of zonal commander Amit Hansda was recovered from the site. A search operation is still ongoing.”

Upton, originally from Bokaro district, was active for the past decade in West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharsawan, and Khunti districts, police said.

He reportedly has several cases registered against him for attacks on security forces, obstructing road construction and other government projects.

Till July, 21 suspected Maoists have been killed across Jharkhand in 14 gunfights with security forces, The New Indian Express reported.

In the Bastar region of neighbouring Chhattisgarh, more than 400 suspected Maoists had been killed in 2024-’25, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai had said in June.

In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces across Chhattisgarh.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians.

The Union government has repeatedly vowed to end Maoism by March 31, 2026.

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