India, Dec. 25 -- Ganesh Uike, a Maoist central committee member who was in charge of Maoist operations in Odisha, was killed in an overnight gunfight with a joint team of security forces in the state's Kandhamal district, police said on Thursday.

Five Maoists were also killed in the same operation in Kandhamal district, which started on Wednesday.

Ganesh Uike was one of the six remaining members of the central committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and carried a cumulative bounty of Rs.1.1 crore on his head.

Police said Uike, 69, was the most senior Maoist operative active in Odisha and his elimination was a significant blow to the Naxal command structure in the region.

"Ganesh was a member of the Maoist central committee a...