Top Maoist Hidma killed in crippling blow to LWE

Madvi Hidma, 50, his wife Madakam Raje, 44, and four other Maoists were killed by the Andhra Pradesh police after a gunfight early on Tuesday, dealing a crippling blow to the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) movement in the country.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu, Ritesh Mishra and Prawesh Lama

Hidma, CPI (Maoist) central committee member and commander of party's first battalion and the others were killed after the encounter at Maredumilli forests of Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Tuesday morning, state intelligence chief Mahesh Chandra Laddha announced.

“Along with Hidma, who is a central committee member of the Maoist party, his wife Madakam Raje who is Dandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC) member was also neutralised. The others were identified as divisional committee member Lakmal, and platoon party committee members Kamlu and Malla and Deve, who was Hidma’s personal guard.”

In the past year, security forces across Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, neutralised at least 270 Maoists, got at least 1,225 to surrender and arrested 680 including top leaders. The senior leaders who were killed include top cadres such as Nambala Keshava Rao (Basavaraju), and central committee members such as Uday aka Gajrala Rao, Katta Ramachandra Reddy and Kadri Satyanarayan Reddy. At least 10 central committee members have also been killed in gunfights this year.