- India’s most wanted Maoist Hidma among 6 killed in Andhra Pradesh encounter
Paderu/Raipur, Nov 18 (UNI) Madvi Hidma alias Santhosh, India’s most wanted Maoist commander and a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist), was among six extremists killed in a fierce encounter in a dense forest area of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, police said.
Hidma was carrying a cash reward of rupees one crore on his head and earned notoriety for committing major offences, including the killing of police personnel and political leaders. Hidma, who also operated as the self-styled Liberation Guerrilla commander, had remained elusive for the past 25 years.
AP Intelligence Additional Director General Mahesh Chandra Ladda told the media that Hidma, his wife and long-time associate Madakam Rajee alias Rajakka, Chelluri Narayana alias Suresh, Tech Shankar, Malla and Deve were killed at Maredumilli village. Their bodies were shifted to the Government General Hospital in Rampachodavaram.
Rajakka was the division committee member of the left ultra group.
The ADG said that a large number of greyhound police personnel surrounded the area located deep inside the forest and a fierce encounter ensued with the Maoists.
ADG Mahesh Chandra Ladda said that the greyhounds and Octoposs anti–terrorist squad conducted intensive combing at the AP-Odisha border area following an intelligence tip-off.
The police seized two AK 47 rifles, one pistol, one revolver, one single-bore gun, 1,525 electrical detonators, 150 non-electrical detonators, one electrical wire bundle, one camera flash light, 25 meters fuse wire and seven kit bags from the encounter site. The combing operation is continuing in the forest area.
Hidma orchestrated and successfully carried out 26 major offensives against the security forces. He gained expertise in using automatic weapons and explosives. He used to lead a battalion comprising over 350 trained Maoists and led attacks which caused the death of over 200 police personnel, sources said.
In 2010, Hidma-led Maoists attacked a CRPF camp and killed 76 CRPF jawans in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. In 2013, he led a Maoist team and attacked a CRPF camp in which 27 jawans and senior Congress leaders were killed in the state. In 2021, he carried out a flash attack on the security forces at Sukma-Bijapur in Chhattisgarh in which 22 CRPF jawans were killed.
Hidma was a class 7 school dropout and joined the Maoist group when he was 17 years old. He could speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Gondu languages. The Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha police had been searching for him for the last one and a half decades.
A Raipur report quoted security officials describing Hidima’s death as a significant breakthrough in the national push to eliminate armed Maoist insurgency by March 2026, and one of the most decisive moments in the decades-long campaign against left-wing extremism.
The encounter followed several weeks of intelligence inputs pointing to the movement of Maoist formations along the Andhra Pradesh–Chhattisgarh–Odisha border. Security agencies had been tracking Hidma’s group, which was believed to be shifting between the Kare Gutta hills and the thick forests near the interstate border to escape sustained pressure in Bastar.
At dawn on Tuesday, a police team conducting combing operations in Maredumilli came under fire. The exchange of fire lasted several minutes. When the guns fell silent, the six bodies were recovered
Hidma, known by aliases such as Hidmanna, Hidmalu and Deva, was considered the most dangerous Maoist operative in the Dandakaranya region. Raised in Purvati village under Jagargunda police station in Sukma district, he entered the Maoist ranks as a Bal Sangham recruit in the early 1990s.
Over time, he emerged as commander of Battalion No. 01, the most violent operational unit of the CPI (Maoist), earning a reward of ₹1 crore on his head.
Hidma is believed to have planned more than two dozen major strikes across South Bastar.
In a poignant turn of events, Hidma’s mother had, only days earlier, made a heartfelt public appeal urging her son to surrender. Standing outside her modest home in Sukma, she had said: “Bete, ghar aa ja… surrender kar de. Hum tumhara intezar kar rahe hain.” (“Son, come home… surrender. We are waiting for you.”).
Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma had visited the family at that time, shared a meal with her and assured her that the government would facilitate Hidma’s return if he chose to abandon violence. However, the day’s encounter ended that possibility forever.
Officials said the encounter demonstrated a significant operational shift, that Maoist cadres, including top commanders, have run out of sanctuaries. “This confirms that their leadership has collapsed to a point where escape is no longer possible,” a senior intelligence officer said.
Bastar IG Sundarraj P. remarked that successive operations across Bastar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have steadily eroded the Maoist command structure. “Today’s success is the outcome of sustained, coordinated pressure. Hidma’s chapter ends here,” he said.
News of Hidma’s end brought a palpable sense of relief among residents across Bastar, where fear of his battalion lingered for years. However, within hours, security agencies detected a surge of social media reels from parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh showing images of Hidma’s body with captions such as “Lal Salaam,” set to Telugu songs. Officials said they are verifying the origin of these posts.
Security officials say Hidma’s death marks one of the biggest blows to Maoist operations in the last three decades and signals a turning point for the Dandakaranya region. “This is not just the fall of a commander; it closes the most violent chapter of Maoist insurgency,” said Sundarraj P.
With combing operations still underway and confirmations continuing to arrive from multiple agencies, officials said the focus now shifts to stabilising the region and encouraging the remaining Maoist cadres to surrender.
