Dreaded Maoist leader Amit Hansda killed by security forces in Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur: Security forces gunned down a dreaded Maoist, carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, in the West Singhbhum district on Sunday.The deceased outlawed member of the CPI (Maoist), Amit Hansda alias Aptan, succumbed to bullet injuries on the spot, in the early hours of the day, when security personnel retaliated to counter indiscriminate firing from the rebels during a combing operation.The gun battle occurred at Relaparal village within the Panchlataburu forest stretch under the jurisdiction of Goilkera police station.One SLR rifle and some cartridges were recovered near Hansda’s body. Aptan, in his mid-forties, was an active member of the CPI (Maoist) zonal committee.Wanted in about 100 violent incidents engineered by the Maoists in the Kolhan division between 2008 and 2025, Hansda was the brain behind the major offensives on the state forces and elected representatives in West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.Chaibasa SP Rakesh Ranjan said the deceased Maoist was involved in the June 2019 incident when five police officials were killed and their arms looted by the outlawed gang members in Kukdu Haat within the limits of the Tiruldih police station in Seraikela.Hansda was also involved in the attack on former BJP MLA Gurucharan Nayak in Jan 2022 at the Jhirrun football ground. Two security guards of the former legislator were shot dead.

An AK-47 rifle and two Insas rifles were looted from the deceased guards. Nayak and his driver escaped the attack.In another major act of violence against the state in which Aptan was involved was the Chaibasa jail break incident of Dec 2014.In all, 12 Maoists fled the prison, but five others were gunned down by the jail guards during the escape bid. Two escapees — Saluka Chaki and Sahadeo — are still at large.In a separate incident, Aptan masterminded the loot of 7,000 plus IEDs from a privately owned warehouse in Baljodi under the jurisdiction of Gua police station in March 2023.The warehouse belonged to a private company which supplied explosives to mining companies.Besides, his involvement has been ascertained in over two dozen IED explosions in the Saranda forest area in the past seven years.The explosions took the lives of security personnel and villagers. Besides, several people were injured in the series of blasts.Aptan, who was a native of the Dhuri police station limits, Bokaro, was part of the core group of the Maoists which has been operating insurgent activities in Kolhan for the past 10 years.The SP said that West Singhbhum district police and the 209 Battalion of the CRPF jointly fought the armed rebels.Notably, two security personnel were killed and another was injured in a post-midnight encounter with the members of the banned Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC), a splinter group of CPI(Maoist), at Keydaal village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Thursday. The encounter took place under the jurisdiction of the Manatu police station of the district.