Key Points
Top Maoist leader Madvi Hidma was killed in an encounter with Andhra Pradesh police.
Hidma was a killed Naxalite leader, fighter and strategist with a bounty of over ₹1 crore on his head.
The encounter occured close to Amit Shah's March 2026 deadline for eradicating left-wing extremism in India.
Madvi Hidma, one of India’s most wanted Maoist commanders and the youngest member of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Tuesday, 18 November 2025. Security forces said the operation marks one of the most significant blows to the insurgency in over a decade.
The encounter took place between 6 AM. and 7 AM. near Nellooru village in Maredumilli mandal, Andhra Pradesh. DGP Harish Kumar Gupta said the Special Party team engaged Hidma and his squad during a combing operation. Hidma’s wife, Rajakka, and four others were also killed.
Born in 1981 in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, Hidma joined the insurgency as a teenager. His combat skills brought him to the notice of senior Maoist leader Nambala Keshava Rao, known as Basavaraju, who was killed earlier this year. Hidma rose rapidly through the ranks and became the only tribal leader from Bastar inducted into the CPI(M) Central Committee. He later headed the Central Military Commission, the group’s top fighting unit. Security agencies linked him to at least 26 major attacks. These included the 2010 Dantewada massacre in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, and the 2013 Jhiram Ghati attack that claimed the lives of several senior Congress leaders, including Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel.
Hidma carried a reward of more than ₹1 crore at the time of his death and was on the NIA’s most wanted list. For years, Hidma was viewed as the Maoists’ most skilled guerrilla strategist and the leader best positioned to revive the shrinking armed movement. His death comes at a time when the organisation is already weakened by surrenders, internal strain and sustained government pressure.
According to Telangana police, Hidma was on the verge of surrendering prior to the encounter. A journalist from Bastar alleged that Hidma had written to him earlier in November 2025, seeking help negotiating with the government. Recently, Hidma’s mother had also publicly urged him to surrender.
Home Minister Amit Shah declared in 2024 that the Central Government aims to end Left-Wing Extremism by 31 March 2026. Operation Kagar, launched this year in Chhattisgarh with coordination from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, is central to that effort.
Once boasting 42 Central Committee members in 2004, the CPI(M) now has about 12. Five senior leaders, including former General Secretary Basavaraju, were killed this year. Another key strategist, Mallojula Venugopal Rao, surrendered. With Hidma gone, police officials say the group has lost the fighter whose battlefield expertise anchored its shrinking forces.
Hidma’s killing is being described as a turning point. The Maoist organisation is now facing what appears to be an irreversible decline. Officials said the encounter is likely to accelerate the collapse of the group’s military structure and deepen uncertainty about its ability to reorganise. [Rh]
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