By Odishatv Bureau

Copyright odishatv

Three Maoists including one carrying a Rs 1 crore bounty on his head were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhands Hazaribag district on Monday morning police said.
The encounter broke out in the Pantitri forest under the Gorhar Police Station limits around 6 am between the squad of Sahdev Soren of the banned CPI Maoist and security forces a senior officer said.
quotThe bodies of Sahdev Soren who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore and two other Maoists have been recovered during the search operationquot Jharkhand Police IG operations and spokesperson Michael Raj S told PTI.
He said that Sahdev alias Prawesh was a central committee member of the proscribed CPI Maoist.
The two others killed in the operation were identified as Raghunath Hembram alias Chanchal and Birsen Ganjhu he said.
quotRaghunath was a special area committee member of the organisation and carried a Rs 25 lakh reward on his head while Ganjhu was a zonal committee member carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his headquot the IG operations said.
Several weapons were recovered from the encounter another officer said.
Based on an intelligence report a joint operation comprising CoBRA Hazaribag and Giridih police personnel was carried out in Pantitri forest along the border of Bokaro and Giridih districts he said.
quotAs the joint forces reached the forest Maoists started firing at them and the security forces retaliated. Three Maoists were killed during the gunfightquot the police officer said.
The search operation is still underway he said.
This was the second gunfight incident between red rebels and security forces in Jharkhand in the past two days.
On Sunday a self-styled sub-zonal commander of the banned Maoist splinter group Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee TSPC Mukhdev Yadav 40 alias Toofan ji who was carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on his head was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhands Palamu district.