A central committee member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Thursday, said Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.

The member identified as Gautam, alias Sudhakar, had a bounty of Rs 40 lakh on his head, according to The Hindu. The central committee is the highest decision-making body of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The gunfight began on Wednesday after a joint team of security forces acted on intelligence reports indicating the presence of suspected Maoist leaders in the Indravati National Park area, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police P Sundarraj told PTI.

The Special Task Force, District Reserve Guard, both units of the Chhattisgarh Police and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action – a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force – were involved in the operation, Sundarraj added.

He said that an AK-47 rifle, along with a large cache of explosives, weapons and ammunition, was recovered during the operation.

Sai stated on Thursday that apart from Sudhakar, “several other” suspected Maoists were killed during the security operation. He did not confirm the number of suspected Maoists killed.

Sudhakar allegedly led the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist)’s technology team and the Regional Political School, an ideological training school for recruits, Sundarraj told The Hindu.

This comes two weeks after Nambala Keshav Rao, the leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was killed in a gunfight with security forces on May 21. He was among the 27 suspected Maoists killed in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur.

According to the Chhattisgarh chief minister, more than 400 suspected Maoists have been killed in the Bastar region in 2024-’25.

The police have stated that 186 suspected Maoists have been killed in gunfights with security personnel in the Bastar range in 2025.

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.

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