Odisha launches major operation in Kandhamal forests to nab top Maoist leader Sukru, aides

Bhubaneswar, Feb 27 (PTI) Security forces have launched an operation in the forests of Odisha’s Kandhamal district to end Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the state, Director General of Police Y B Khurania said on Friday.

Issuing an ultimatum to the remaining Maoists, including the state’s topmost cadre Sukru, who carries a reward of Rs 55 lakh on his head and is suspected to have been hiding in those forests, the DGP asked them to abandon violence and surrender.

“The surviving Maoists now have two options: accept the state government’s surrender and rehabilitation scheme, or face the consequences. The security forces have already launched an operation in forests under Daringbadi and Raikia police station limits in Kandhamal district,” Khurania said.

He said the authorities have intensified counter-insurgency operations focusing on apprehending Sukru, who allegedly killed his own cadre member Anwesh for intending to surrender along with a group of 12 cadre members.

Hailing from Chitrakonda area of Malkangiri district, 46-year-old Sukru is now the topmost Maoist leader in the state after elimination of his seniors in recent past.

Sukru, a Special Zonal Committee member (SZCM) of the 8th company under the Communist Party of India (Maoist)’s Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division in Odisha, is considered a key impediment to eradicating LWE in the state. The government has announced a bounty of Rs 55 lakh on his head, a senior official said.

The state government on Thursday launched the anti-Naxal joint operation by Odisha Police’s 13 new SOG teams, District Voluntary Force (DVF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which began in the Daringbadi and Raikia region, where Sukru and his team were expected to be taking shelter.

“We have already diverted the operational team to Kandhamal. The operation is intensified in the Daringbadi and Raikia police station area where Sukru and his followers have been hiding,” Additional DG (Anti-Naxal Operation) Sanjeeb Panda told reporters.

Sukru, who is leading a group of about 30 red rebels, came to the scanner of the Odisha Police after the killing of Anwesh alias Renu, whose decomposed body was exhumed from Pakiri reserve forest under Daringbadi police limits on Wednesday.

Some of the Maoists who laid down arms before the police also revealed how Sukru foiled the state government’s attempt to bring back red rebels into the mainstream.

Champa, a woman Maoist, who recently surrendered, said, “Sukru used to torture cadre members who wanted to return home and lead a normal life after getting disgusted with the jungle life.” Kandhamal SP Harisha BC also said that the Maoist leadership violently opposed the surrender of cadre members, and Anwesh’s murder is believed to have been executed by SZCM Sukru, with the assistance of DVCM Sila and ACM Jagesh.

“Jagesh was recently neutralised in an exchange of fire with security forces on February 22 in the Nandabali Reserve Forest area,” he said.

DGP Khurania said the police are carrying out the operation with greater vigour this time to meet the March 31 deadline declared by the Centre to make India Maoist-free.

“I am confident of achieving the target. Now, I once again appeal to the Maoists who are there in the forest to abandon violence and join the mainstream. We will provide them with full support and assistance in accordance with the government’s surrender policy,” Panda said.

In December 2025, another top Maoist commander Ganesh Uikey was gunned down in the forested area of Rambha on the borders of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts. PTI AAM AAM NN