Jharkhand police arrest top Maoist leader Ravindra Ganjhu in Latehar
Jharkhand police say they have arrested Ravindra Ganjhu, one of the CPI (Maoist)’s most wanted leaders, in what local officials are describing as a major breakthrough against Left-Wing Extremism.
The New Indian Express report says the arrest took place in Latehar and was officially confirmed by police. It identifies Ganjhu as a regional committee member and says officers recovered an AK-56 rifle, a pistol and ammunition from him. Those details make the operation significant not only because of the arrest itself but because of the weapons reportedly found at the scene.
Police sources quoted in the report say Ganjhu had been wanted for years and carried rewards totaling Rs 20 lakh: Rs 15 lakh from the Jharkhand government and Rs 5 lakh from the National Investigation Agency. The report also says a joint team of district police and CRPF acted on a tip-off that he was hiding in the Latehar area and may have been preparing for a major incident or meeting his squad.
The source describes Ganjhu as a figure long linked to Maoist activity across Latehar, Lohardaga and the McCluskieganj area. It also says he was tied to the Lukaiya ambush, in which four police personnel were killed, and that a major operation called Operation Double Bull failed to catch him in 2022. Those background details underline why the arrest is being framed as important by local authorities.
At the same time, the report remains a police-side account. It does not include a response from Ganjhu, his associates or defense counsel, and it does not provide independent confirmation of the alleged weapons ownership or the tip-off. For that reason, the article can safely say only what the police claim to have done and found.
The consequences now shift from the arrest to the interrogation. The report says police are questioning Ganjhu to gather leads on the organization’s network, arms supply and wider Maoist activity. If accurate, that could make the arrest more valuable than simply removing a fugitive commander from the field, because it may yield intelligence on how the group has been operating underground.
For Jharkhand, the event fits a broader anti-Naxal campaign that has repeatedly targeted command-and-control figures rather than only local operatives. The source suggests Ganjhu was one of the last top-ranking Maoist leaders active in the region, which is why police are presenting the case as a milestone.
The factual core remains tight: arrest in Latehar, weapons recovered, rewards announced, and interrogation underway. Everything else depends on what police can verify next and whether the arrest produces actionable intelligence about the group’s structure.
