MAREDUMILLI (Andhra Pradesh), Nov 18: Top Naxal commander Madvi Hidma and his wife were among the six Maoists killed in an encounter with security personnel in Andhra’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district, police said, describing the development as “the last nail in the coffin” of insurgency.
The forces have also detained 31 members of the banned CPI (Maoist), including eight security guards of a top leader, in different parts of the state, they said.
Hidma, who joined the organisation in the late 1990s as a ground-level organiser, masterminded several attacks over the last two decades and became one of the most wanted Maoists after the Tadmetla (Dantewada) attack in which 76 security personnel were killed in 2010. He had then assisted another top Maoist commander, Papa Rao, in executing the strike.An expert in guerrilla warfare, Hidma was known to carry an AK-47 rifle, while members of his huge unit moved with sophisticated weapons. His four-layered security ring inside the forests reportedly made him untraceable for years. He had over Rs 1 crore bounty on his head at the time of his death.Two women and four men were killed in the exchange of fire, it said, and added that based on reliable sources and field verification, police confirmed that Hidma, his wife Madakam Raje, Deve, Lakmal (Chaitu), Malla (Mallalu), and Kamlu (Kamlesh) died. police seized two AK-47 rifles, one pistol, one revolver,a number of electrical and non-electrical detonators. (PTI)
