At least eight suspected Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district on Monday, The Indian Express reported.

The gunfight between the suspected Maoists and the police and the Central Reserve Police Force’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or the CoBRA unit, took place around 5 am in the Lugu Hills of Lalpania region.

The bodies were being recovered and the search operation was still on, the newspaper quoted the police saying.

“The number [of Maoists killed] could be higher,” The Indian Express quoted Inspector General of Police Amol Vinukant Homkar as saying. “A large cache of weapons and ammunition has been recovered from the site.”

Among those killed was Vivek, who carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head, ANI quoted the state’s Director General of Police Anurag Gupta as saying.

About 140 suspected Maoists have been killed in gunfights with security personnel this year. In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh 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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