PTI | Maredumilli/Raipur
Top Naxal commander Madvi Hidma and his wife were among the six Maoists killed in an encounter with security personnel in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district on Tuesday, police said, describing the development as “the last nail in the coffin” of insurgency.
The forces have also detained 31 members of the banned CPI (Maoist), including eight security guards of a top leader, in different parts of the state, they said. Hidma, who joined the organisation in the late 1990s as a ground-level organiser, masterminded several attacks over the last two decades and became one of the most wanted Maoists after the Tadmetla (Dantewada) attack in which 76 security personnel were killed in 2010. He had then assisted another top Maoist commander, Papa Rao, in executing the strike.
An expert in guerrilla warfare, Hidma was known to carry an AK-47 rifle, while members of his huge unit moved with sophisticated weapons. His four-layered security ring inside the forests reportedly made him untraceable for years. He had over Rs 1 crore bounty on his head at the time of his death.
A native of Puvarti village in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, Hidma’s age and appearance remained mysterious until his photograph surfaced earlier this year. He was elevated to the Maoists’ Central Committee last year.
Hidma, 51, also headed the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of the outfit in Dandakaranya and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, and Maharashtra, apart from Bastar, for several years, Chhattisgarh officials said.
Alluri Sitaramaraju district superintendent of police (SP) Amit Bardar said the encounter happened between 6.30 am and 7 am.
in the forested area of Maredumilli mandal.
“This morning, between 6:30 am and 7:00 am, an exchange of fire (EOF) occurred between Maoists and the police party in the Maredumilli Mandal area. During the encounter, six Maoists were neutralised,” Bardar said in an official press release.
Two women and four men were killed in the exchange of fire, it said, and added that based on reliable sources and field verification, police confirmed that Hidma, his wife Madakam Raje, Deve, Lakmal (Chaitu), Malla (Mallalu), and Kamlu (Kamlesh) died.
Intelligence inputs over the past few weeks had indicated increased Maoist movement along the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, leading to intensified combing operations, the release said.
Following the encounter, police seized two AK-47 rifles, one pistol, one revolver, and a single-barreled weapon, a number of electrical and non-electrical detonators, fuse wire, seven kit bags, and others. “Combing operations are continuing in the surrounding areas to ensure complete sanitisation and prevent further Maoist activity,”” the press release said.
According to the SP, it was a joint operation carried out by various wings of the police department.
Addressing a press conference, Andhra Pradesh Intelligence ADGP Mahesh Chandra Laddha said Maoists from a few battalions were planning to shift to Andhra Pradesh due to continuous pressure in Chhattisgarh.
Consequently, police kept a close and continuous watch on their movements. “For the last two days, we had very specific intelligence that a few top Maoist leaders were entering the state and were planning to revive the movement,” Laddha said. The bodies of the six Maoists were shifted for postmortem, and the necessary action will be taken thereafter, he said.
Police monitoring in other districts such as NTR, Krishna, Kakinada, and Eluru led to the arrest of 31 more members of the proscribed organisation, he added.
Of the 31 detained, nine were security guards for central committee member Devji, while the remaining were from the battalion, Laddha said. It has also been reported that a few Maoists managed to flee from the encounter site, and combing operations are currently underway, the official said.
