RANCHI: Jharkhand DGP Anurag Gupta said that the Maoists in Jharkhand will not be able to see the dawn of 2026; either they will be gunned down by the security forces or they will be put behind bars. While talking to the media persons in Gumla on Wednesday, the DGP informed that as many as 32 Maoists of different organisations have been killed in Jharkhand in 2025.
“As of now, a total of 32 rebels belonging to different Maoist outfit have been killed in 2025. Now, all I can say is, any of the Maoists in Jharkhand would not be able to see the dawn of 2026; they will either by gunned down by security forces or put behind bars,” said the DGP. Those who dare to open fire on our police personnel or officers, will be given a reply in that language only, he added.
DGP said that the remaining Maoists, rebels, gangsters, organised criminals, extortionists or whatever name you want to call them, will be finished from Jharkhand. The DGP also warned the Maoists that if they want to save their lives, they should put their guns down before the police as they cannot run away from them any more. He said the police have accurate intelligence inputs about their whereabouts, the weapons they have, who they meet, where they stay, from where they are getting money, and who is funding them.
“Police are capable of reaching out to them and neutralising them; therefore, I suggest to them that they should surrender before the police as soon as possible or their end is not very far,” said the DGP. Notably, the DGP was on a visit to Gumla on Wednesday to boost the morale of the security forces, who had gunned down three members of the banned Maoist outfit, Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), including two Sub-zonal Commanders.
The security forces also recovered a cache of sophisticated weapons, including a 5.56 Rifle, a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) and an INSAS rifle, from the spot. The deceased were identified as Lalu Lohara, Chhotu Oraon, and Sujit Oraon. Lalu Lohara and Chhotu Oraon were both sub-zonal commanders. Chhotu Lohara carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head and was wanted in several criminal cases. Sujit Oraon was working as a cadre in his team.
Interestingly, the deadline given by Jharkhand DGP is three months ahead of the deadline given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has appealed the Maoists to drop their guns as the Central government is determined to free the country of Maoism and Naxal ideology by March 31, 2026. Notably, Maoists are now restricted only to Saranda jungles in Jharkhand as they have been wiped out from other pockets of the state.
According to an estimate, a handful of Maoists are supposed to be hiding in the Saranda jungles, where they have planted thousands of IEDs, which has become a challenge for the security forces. The state police have launched a joint operation in Kolhan and Saranda jungles of Chaibasa in November 2022 following intelligence inputs about the presence of top Maoist leaders in the region, including Misir Besra, a senior CPI(Maoist) commander with a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head. Meanwhile, according to official data, a total of 18 Maoists were killed in the year 2020, eight in 2021. By the year 2022 this number increased to 12, after this it further rose to 14 in 2023, and 11 in 2024. However, 20 security personnel have also been martyred during these years.