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Top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma is among six Maoists killed by security forces in Andhra Pradesh's Alluri Sitharamaraju district in the Andhra-Odisha border area on Tuesday, November 18.
The killings took place in the Maredumilli forest area when the police from Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and personnel of the central paramilitary forces were engaged in an operation after receiving information about the presence of Maoists.
Top Maoist commander and CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Madvi Hidma is reported to be among the Maoists killed in the encounter. His wife Madakam Raje was also reportedly killed.
His killing is seen as a major development in the Union government’s anti-Maoist operations.
The security forces are yet to confirm the death of Hidma, who was allegedly involved in carrying out several armed attacks on police and paramilitary forces.
Hidma was considered one of the most-wanted Maoist leaders in India. The 43-year-old is chief of battalion number one of the People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) battalion, the armed wing of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The security forces were continuing the operation looking for some more Maoists deep in the forests.
The killings took place near the tri-junction point of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Hidma, who carries a reward of Rs 50 lakh, was the only tribal person from the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh in the CPI(Maoist) Central Committee.
He was alleged to have led the 2010 Dantewada attack in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed.
He was also alleged to have been involved in the 2013 Jheeram Ghati attack in Chhattisgarh in which 29 people including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, the founder of Salwa Judum, a state-sponsored anti-Maoist militia, were killed.
Hidma was also allegedly involved in the 2021 Sukma attack in Chhattisgarh in which 22 security personnel and 20 Maoists were killed.
As part of the anti-Maoist crackdown in Chhattisgarh in the name of Operation Kagar or Operation Black Forest, the Union government had announced that at least 31 Naxalites were killed as of May 2025. Left parties, activists and others have condemned the extrajudicial killings, questioning if there were unarmed local residents among those killed.
Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah had said that the Union government is resolved to “eliminate Naxalism” before March 31, 2026.
Many top Maoist leaders including former general secretary Basavaraju, and Central Committee members Katta Ramachandra Reddy, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, Gajarla Ravi, Chalapathi, Sahdev Soren, Modem Balakrishna, and Narasimha Chalam and others, have been killed this year.
Many other senior leaders have surrendered in Telangana, Karnataka and other regions.
With IANS inputs