How India hunted its most elusive Maoist
Jayanta Kalita and Rajesh Sharma | Nov 21, 2025, 04:00 IST
Madvi Hidma, long shielded by a four-layer security and Rs 1-crore bounty, was tracked and killed in Andhra Pradesh – marking what officials call ‘last nail in Maoist insurgency’
His age and appearance had long remained a mystery until a photograph of him surfaced earlier this year – offering security forces a crucial lead after two decades of combing the jungles of multiple states. That search culminated on November 18, when top Naxal commander Madvi Hidma, 51, was killed in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district.
District Superintendent of Police Amit Bardar said the encounter occurred between 6.30 am and 7 am in the forested area of Maredumilli mandal.
Along with Hidma, his wife, Madakam Raje, and four other Naxals were killed in the exchange of fire – a development police described as “the last nail in the coffin” of Left-wing insurgency. Both Hidma and Raje were Maoist Central Committee members.
The security forces also captured 31 members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) during the operation. Hidma, who had carried a Rs 1 crore bounty on his head, was neutralised just days before the November 30 deadline set by security agencies for his capture or elimination. The Modi government has reiterated its commitment to ending the Maoist insurgency by March 2026.
From ‘Child soldier’ to chief
Born in Puvarti village in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, Hidma was the only tribal commander to rise through the ranks after joining the Maoist movement in the late 1990s as a “child soldier”.
An expert in guerrilla warfare, Hidma was known to carry an AK-47 rifle, while his large unit was equipped with other sophisticated weapons. His security was formidable, with a four-layered ring of protection inside the forests that reportedly made him untraceable for years.
He was considered a “technically astute guerrilla,” with expertise not only in combat but also in manufacturing and repairing firearms, according to a senior official.
Wanted by the National Investigation Agency, Hidma was the mastermind behind several major attacks over the past two decades, including the 2010 Tadmetla (Dantewada) attack, which resulted in the deaths of 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
In 2022, he was elevated to the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) and also took command of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, regarded as the most battle-hardened unit of the organisation.
Mentored by key ideologue Ramchandra Reddy Pratap Reddy, alias Chalapati, Hidma came to symbolise a phase of Maoism where military power overshadowed ideological leadership.
How he was tracked and killed
Sustained anti-Maoist operations over the past two years had pushed Hidma deeper into the forests along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana and Chhattisgarh-Andhra borders, but tracking the elusive commander remained challenging.
Security forces did not even know what Hidma looked like until they found a photograph earlier this year. Before that, they had often carried an album of images to show surrendered cadres, hoping to piece together a physical profile.
Intelligence assessments described him as 51 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a medium build, fair complexion, and mixed black-grey hair. Within Maoist ranks, he went by several aliases – including Hidmana, Hidmalu, and Deva – and was regarded as a key organiser of guerrilla operations in the Bastar division, coordinating activities across southern Chhattisgarh.
The anti-Maoist Greyhounds unit of the Andhra Pradesh police tracked him down just over a week after Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma met his 70-something mother during a Bastar outreach.
According to Andhra Pradesh police chief Harish Kumar Gupta, Hidma and his six-member team had been “testing Andhra limits” recently to escape mounting pressure in Chhattisgarh. “The group was entering AP through East Godavari district and also attempting to move towards Odisha,” he said.
At a press conference, Additional Director-General of Police (intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha stated, “For the past two days, we had very specific intelligence that a few top Maoist leaders were entering the state and were planning to revive the movement.”
Gupta added that the successful November 12 operation resulted from intensified combing efforts in the region based on intelligence about Hidma’s movements.
Weapons and supplies recovered from the site included two AK-47 rifles, a pistol, a revolver, a single-bore rifle, 28 rounds of Kalashnikov ammunition, five rounds of pistol cartridges, detonators, fuse wire, bundles of electrical wire, and seven kit bags.
With inputs from U Sudhakar Reddy, Rashmi Drolia and agencies
District Superintendent of Police Amit Bardar said the encounter occurred between 6.30 am and 7 am in the forested area of Maredumilli mandal.
Along with Hidma, his wife, Madakam Raje, and four other Naxals were killed in the exchange of fire – a development police described as “the last nail in the coffin” of Left-wing insurgency. Both Hidma and Raje were Maoist Central Committee members.
The security forces also captured 31 members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) during the operation. Hidma, who had carried a Rs 1 crore bounty on his head, was neutralised just days before the November 30 deadline set by security agencies for his capture or elimination. The Modi government has reiterated its commitment to ending the Maoist insurgency by March 2026.
From ‘Child soldier’ to chief
Born in Puvarti village in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, Hidma was the only tribal commander to rise through the ranks after joining the Maoist movement in the late 1990s as a “child soldier”.
An expert in guerrilla warfare, Hidma was known to carry an AK-47 rifle, while his large unit was equipped with other sophisticated weapons. His security was formidable, with a four-layered ring of protection inside the forests that reportedly made him untraceable for years.
He was considered a “technically astute guerrilla,” with expertise not only in combat but also in manufacturing and repairing firearms, according to a senior official.
Wanted by the National Investigation Agency, Hidma was the mastermind behind several major attacks over the past two decades, including the 2010 Tadmetla (Dantewada) attack, which resulted in the deaths of 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
In 2022, he was elevated to the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) and also took command of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, regarded as the most battle-hardened unit of the organisation.
Mentored by key ideologue Ramchandra Reddy Pratap Reddy, alias Chalapati, Hidma came to symbolise a phase of Maoism where military power overshadowed ideological leadership.
How he was tracked and killed
Sustained anti-Maoist operations over the past two years had pushed Hidma deeper into the forests along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana and Chhattisgarh-Andhra borders, but tracking the elusive commander remained challenging.
Security forces did not even know what Hidma looked like until they found a photograph earlier this year. Before that, they had often carried an album of images to show surrendered cadres, hoping to piece together a physical profile.
Intelligence assessments described him as 51 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a medium build, fair complexion, and mixed black-grey hair. Within Maoist ranks, he went by several aliases – including Hidmana, Hidmalu, and Deva – and was regarded as a key organiser of guerrilla operations in the Bastar division, coordinating activities across southern Chhattisgarh.
The anti-Maoist Greyhounds unit of the Andhra Pradesh police tracked him down just over a week after Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma met his 70-something mother during a Bastar outreach.
According to Andhra Pradesh police chief Harish Kumar Gupta, Hidma and his six-member team had been “testing Andhra limits” recently to escape mounting pressure in Chhattisgarh. “The group was entering AP through East Godavari district and also attempting to move towards Odisha,” he said.
At a press conference, Additional Director-General of Police (intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha stated, “For the past two days, we had very specific intelligence that a few top Maoist leaders were entering the state and were planning to revive the movement.”
Gupta added that the successful November 12 operation resulted from intensified combing efforts in the region based on intelligence about Hidma’s movements.
Weapons and supplies recovered from the site included two AK-47 rifles, a pistol, a revolver, a single-bore rifle, 28 rounds of Kalashnikov ammunition, five rounds of pistol cartridges, detonators, fuse wire, bundles of electrical wire, and seven kit bags.
With inputs from U Sudhakar Reddy, Rashmi Drolia and agencies