Madvi Hidma, a top Maoist commander responsible for 26 armed attacks against security forces and civilians, killed in an encounter on Tuesday in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district. He and his wife were among the six Maoists who died in the confrontation.
Hidma, 43, had a bounty of Rs 50 lakh. He also involved in the 2010 Dantewada attack, the 2013 Jhiram Valley massacre, and the 2021 Sukma-Bijapur encounter. Security forces had been monitoring him for a long time.
Madvi Hidma killed in encounter
The encounter began after security personnel got tips about the movement of Maoists near the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. Hidma’s second wife, Raje (Rajakka), also killed along with him and his bodyguards.
District Superintendent of Police Amit Bardar told news agency that four men and two women killed in the gunfire. Interestingly, Hidma’s death came a week after his mother, Madvi Punji, made an emotional appeal for him to abandon the armed movement and surrender, which could lead to his rehabilitation. Punji’s plea followed her meeting with Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma in Sukma.
About top Maoist commander killed in Andhra Pradesh Gunfight
Born in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma in 1981, Madvi Hidma was the head of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) – Battalion No 1, the Maoists’ most lethal strike unit. He was the youngest member of the Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) and the only tribal from the Bastar region to join the committee.
Hidma believed to planned major attacks on security forces, including the 2010 Dantewada incident that resulted in the deaths of 76 CRPF personnel and the 2013 Jhiram Valley massacre, which claimed 27 lives, including several prominent Congress leaders. He also played a role in the 2021 Sukma-Bijapur encounter, in which 22 security personnel lost their lives.
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