In a significant development on the Maoist front, the top Maoist commander and regional committee member of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist), Aman Ganjhu, surrendered before the top official of the security forces on December 28.
Aman Ganjhu was active in the Latehar, Lohardaga and Gumla areas of Jharkhand for a long time. Aman Ganjhu, basically a resident of Dhibra of the Aurangabad police station area of Bihar joined the Maoist organisation in 2004.
Ganjhu had been active in the outlawed organisation for more than 18 years. As per the reports, the surrender took place in front of IG (operation) AV Homkar, Ranchi Zonal IG Pankaj Kamboj and Garhwa SP Anjani Jha.
Aman Ganjhu had been wanted in more than a dozen cases of loot, arson and murder, and as many as 17 cases had been lodged against him in different police stations of insurgency-hit Latehar and Lohardaga Districts.
Aman was said to be the regional commander of the CPI Maoist, and a bounty of Rs 15 lakh had been placed on his head by the Jharkhand Government, in addition to that he was also wanted by the NIA and the agency had announced a reward of Rs 4 lakh on him.
Briefing the media on the development IG operation, AV Homkar said, “He was a victim of the harsh treatment of the local cadre by the top leaders of the banned outfit.” It was only when we launched the operation “double bull” in the bulbul forest range that Ganjhu was convinced that it’s time to shun the path of violence, and thus he joined the mainstream, added Homkar.
In the year 2019, the NIA announced a reward against 22 Naxalites, including Aman, in the case of the Naxalite attack in Chandwa, Latehar.
It should be noted that the security forces in Jharkhand have been conducting regular search operations in the region, which has led to the arrest or surrender of many notorious Maoist in the recent past.
In a similar operation in the forest of Borai of Lohardaga District on December 26, a self-styled commander of the CPI has also been killed, as per the reports acting on a tipoff about the presence of infamous Ravindra Ganjhu in the Korbo forest area, a combing operation by the security forces had been launched.
Security forces seized a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives during the search operation. The seizure included 200 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), one INSAS rifle, two 303 rifles, one semi-automatic rifle, one loaded country-made pistol with magazine, one country-made firearm, 609 live cartridges, ten detonators and eight empty cartridges.
It’s been learnt that when the joint team of security forces were conducting the search operation, two armed Maoists opened in-discriminatory fire, to which the forces retaliated heavily, after which two Maoist commanders of the CPI were nabbed.
One of them, Chandrabhan Pahan, was found to be seriously injured and had been admitted to the Lohar Daga District hospital subsequently, where the doctors declared him dead. While the other one has been identified as Govind Birijia, it’s been learnt that as many as two dozen cases have been pending against both the rebels in different police stations of Lohar Daga and Garhwa. It’s been learnt that a bounty of Rs 5 lakh each had already been placed on both by the government.
During the last three years, 40 Naxalites surrendered before the Jharkhand Police, while more than 1300 Naxalites were arrested. In the year 2022, ten Naxalites surrendered before the Jharkhand Police. In three years, 30 Naxalites were also killed.
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