BHUBANESWAR: It took about an hour and two bursts of heavy firing to neutralise Ganesh Uike’s the dense forested area of Rambha on the borders of Ganjam and Kandhamal, on Thursday morning.
There were 12 Maoist operatives in the camp but Odisha Police had pointed intelligence about the presence of Uike, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist) who carried Rs 1.1 crore reward on his head.
That explained the 700-strong contingent of the security forces, 20 Special Operations Group (SOG) units of Odisha Police, two battalions of CRPF and one BSF team.
When the Maoists fired at least 100 rounds upon spotting the security forces, it received heavy firing. The exchange of fire happened in two episodes, from 8.30 am to 9.15 am and the second one for another 15 minutes. Eight of the Maoists fled, leaving behind Uike and three others at the exchange of fire location.
With Uike , the CPI (Maoist)’s Odisha operation leader is now gone. Earlier, he looked after the Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) and Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagavali (BGN) divisions, said police sources. However, after the killing of Modem Balakrishna, Ganesh took charge of the banned outfit’s activities in Odisha.
“Central committee members Chalapathi and Modem were looking after the operations in Odisha. After the deaths of Chalapathi and Modem, Ganesh had taken charge of the outfit’s state committees comprising of KKBN, BGN, Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada (DGN) and Balangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund (BBM) divisions,” said ADG Anti-Naxal Operations, Sanjeeb Panda.
When Uike took charge about four years back, the Maoist outfit had considerably weakened which is why he had no major operations to his credit in the state.
Sources said, since the outfit’s base is rapidly shrinking in neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, it is unlikely that the CPI (Maoist) will depute any of its senior member to Odisha anymore. Another reason is no other senior member of the outfit is thorough about the state’s terrain, he added.
Meanwhile, police said they will intensify operations in Kandhamal and neighbouring districts to completely eradicate left wing extremism (LWE) by March 2026. Sources said a native of Odisha, Nikhil, is now the head of the red ultras in the state.