A top Maoist leader carrying a Rs 1 crore bounty was gunned down along with two other senior rebels in an encounter with security forces in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district on Monday morning, police said.

The slain commander has been identified as Sahdeo Soren, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was one of the most wanted Maoist leaders in eastern India.

According to Jharkhand Police, the joint operation was carried out by the CoBRA battalion, Giridih Police and Hazaribagh Police based on specific intelligence inputs. The gunfight broke out around 6 am in Karandi village under Tatijharia police station limits, near the Giridih–Bokaro border.

Two other Maoist leaders -- Raghunath Hembram alias Chanchal, a Bihar–Jharkhand Special Area Committee member with a Rs 25 lakh reward, and Birsen Ganjhu alias Ramkhelawan, a zonal committee member carrying a Rs 10 lakh bounty -- were also killed in the encounter.

Security forces later recovered the bodies of the three insurgents after the encounter. A search operation is still underway in the forested region, officials said.

Source: India Today