Overview
- Four Maoists, including CPI (Maoist) central committee member Ganesh Uike, were killed Thursday in the Chakapad area near the Rambha forest range of Kandhamal–Ganjam, with two men and two women found at the site.
- Security forces recovered two INSAS rifles and one .303 rifle from the encounter location, and combing and identification efforts are continuing for the three others killed on Thursday.
- The operation was launched on Special Intelligence Wing inputs and deployed 23 teams—20 SOG, two CRPF and one BSF—across forested terrain with multiple exchanges of fire reported.
- Two additional Maoists were killed Wednesday in the Gumma forest area under Belghar police limits, identified as Bari alias Rakesh and Amrit, taking the two‑day toll in Kandhamal to six.
- Uike, 69, who led Maoist operations in Odisha and carried a bounty of about ₹1.1 crore, was hailed by Union home minister Amit Shah as a significant elimination, while Odisha’s DGP said the outcome dealt a major blow to the group’s state network.