Chaibasa, Jan. 23 -- A high-ranking Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist), identified as Patiram Majhi alias Anal da, was shot on Thursday during a major joint anti-Naxal operation, Meghaburu. Security officials confirmed that the encounter resulted in the death of the most wanted Naxalites.

Operation Meghaburu was launched on Thursday by 209 CoBRA, Chaibasa district police, and Jharkhand Jaguar in the Saranda forest. During an intense gunfight, Patiram Majhi alias Anal da, who carried a reward of 1 crore on his head in Jharkhand, was killed alongwith 14 other Maoists.

Anal was a Central Committee Member (CCM), the highest decision-making body of CPI (Maoist), and had as many as 149 cases in Jharkhand. On Friday, during the searc...