In the biggest breakthrough in Jharkhand’s anti-Maoist campaign in years, 16 Maoists, including some senior members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) group, surrendered in front of Jharkhand Police on Tuesday. The group included six wanted extremists with a combined reward of ₹39 lakh, one of the state’s biggest surrender efforts in recent months.
The surrendered cadre also handed over a large cache of sophisticated weapons and ammunition, strengthening the state police's efforts to weaken the Maoist insurgency in the region.
Senior Maoist leaders among those who surrendered
According to senior police officials, one of the most prominent leaders to surrender was Santosh Mahto, also known as Basudev Da and Dilip. He served as a Regional Committee Member of the CPI (Maoist) and was among the organisation's most wanted leaders in Jharkhand.
Santosh Mahto had a reward of ₹15 lakh and was wanted in 128 criminal cases registered across multiple districts. His involvement was believed to be related to attacks on security forces and an improvised explosive device (IED) attack.
The police said he was accused of involvement in an IED blast on March 1, which injured a jawan of the elite CoBRA Battalion in a forest area falling under the limits of Manoharpur, Chotnagar and Jhariakela police stations.
Another key surrender came from Chandan Lohra, a senior Maoist leader with a ₹10 lakh reward. Police records show that he was wanted in 78 criminal cases linked to Maoist activities.
Women cadres also among those surrendering
Officials confirmed that five women Maoist members were also part of the surrender group.
The surrendered members included leaders from different organisational levels, such as:
One Regional Committee Member
One Zonal Committee Member
Two Sub-Zonal Committee Members
Two Area Committee Leaders
Among the other surrendered extremists were:
Anil Turi - Sub-Zonal Committee Member (₹5 lakh reward).
Sukhlal Birjiyan - Sub-Zonal Committee Member (₹5 lakh reward).
Sudesh Honhaga - Area Committee Leader (₹2 lakh reward).
Risiv - Area Committee Leader (₹2 lakh reward).
Santosh Manjhi - Zonal Committee Member
Police characterized the surrender as a major setback to Maoist operations in the state.
Big cache of weapons recovered
In addition to surrendering, the Maoists handed over a huge amount of firearms and ammunition to security forces.
The recovered weapons include:
6 INSAS rifles
2 AK-47 assault rifles
38 magazines
1,562 live rounds of ammunition
Police believe that recovering these weapons will significantly reduce the operational capabilities of Maoist groups operating in forested areas of Jharkhand.
Jharkhand Police hail major success
Jharkhand Director General of Police (DGP) Tadasha Mishra said the surrender was another major achievement in the state's fight against left-wing extremism.
She said the police would keep their commitment to removing extremist violence and bringing peace to Jharkhand as well.
Hence, officials said, the state surrender and rehabilitation policy has prompted several Maoist cadres to abandon violence and rejoin mainstream society.
Anti-Maoist campaign receives good results.
The latest surrender comes as an intensified anti-Maoist campaign is being carried out jointly by Jharkhand Police and central security forces.
Police statistics for 2026 point to significant progress in operations against Maoist groups:
93 Maoists arrested
45 extremists surrendered
22 Maoists killed in encounters
The security agencies believe that continued intelligence-based operations, along with rehabilitation programmes, have weakened the organisational structure of Maoist groups in Jharkhand.
Officials hope that, once again, more underground cadres may surrender in the next few months as security operations are going on in the affected areas.
While Maoists continue to have isolated activities in some areas of the woods, the overall influence of insurgency has decreased in recent years in a number of parts of the country thanks to coordination, better intelligence gathering and development efforts in remote areas.
