Ganesh Uike, who led Maoists in Odisha, shot dead in Kandhamal gunfight

Panda said Uike, who led the banned outfit in Odisha, was from Chendur Mandal in Nalgonda district of Telangana

Updated on: Dec 25, 2025, 16:08:28 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: Ganesh Uike, a Maoist central committee member who was in charge of Maoist operations in Odisha, was killed in an overnight gunfight with a joint team of security forces in the state’s Kandhamal district, police said on Thursday.

Security personnel (Inset: Ganesh Uike) in Phulbani area of Kandhamal district on April 18, 2019 ((HT FILE PHOTO/Representative Image)))

Five Maoists were also killed in the same operation in Kandhamal district, which started on Wednesday.

Ganesh Uike was one of the six remaining members of the central committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and carried a cumulative bounty of ₹1.1 crore on his head.

Police said Uike, 69, was the most senior Maoist operative active in Odisha and his elimination was a significant blow to the Naxal command structure in the region.

“Ganesh was a member of the Maoist central committee and played a key role in planning and coordinating armed activities across multiple zones. A central committee member, he was also known by aliases Rupa, Rajesh Tiwari, Chamru and Pakka Hanumantu,” said Odisha’s additional general of police (anti-Maoist ops), Sanjeeb Panda.

Panda said Uike, who led the banned outfit in Odisha, was from Chendur Mandal in Nalgonda district of Telangana “He was the only central committee member operating in Odisha,” Panda added.

Acting on a tip from the Special Intelligence Wing (SIW), a joint operation was launched by 20 Special Operations Group (SOG) units of the state police, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) teams and one Border Security Force (BSF) team, in Kandhamal’s Chakapad police station area and the Rambha forest range in the bordering areas of Ganjam district.

When the gunfight ended on Thursday, police said bodies of four Maoists – two men and two women - were found in an extensive search of the area.

Two Maoists were also killed by a mobile SOG team from Kotgadh on Wednesday. The police have identified them as Bari alias Rakesh, an area committee member of the Raygda Area Committee under the Bastar-Gadchiroli-North (BGN) division from Sukma district, and Amrit, a platoon member of the Supply Dalam (BGN) from Bijapur district.

This year, nine members of the central committee, including four in Chhattisgarh, two each in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh and one in Odisha have been killed in encounters with security forces.

The central committee members who have been killed are Ramachandra Reddy alias Jairam alias Chalapati, Gautam alias Sudhakar, Modem Balakrishna, Raju Dada alias Katta Ramachandra Reddy, Kosa Dada alias Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, Sahadev Soren alias Pravesh, Vivek alias Prayag Manjhi, Madvi Hidma, Metturi Joga Rao alias Tech Shankar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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