HYDERABAD/RAIPUR: Top Maoist leader Madvi Hidma, 42, was reportedly killed in an encounter on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border on Wednesday. Though the police are yet to confirm his death, the office of IG of Police, Chhattisgarh Sector, released a communique saying CRPF’s Cobra Battalion personnel were undertaking operations against the militants.
The security forces reportedly engaged a copter in the operation lasting for hours. With the death of Hidma, the Maoist organisation lost a powerful leader and a strategist. A member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Hidma was known to be an expert in guerrilla operations.
The slain man who joined the Maoist organisation in 1996 rose in rank step by step. He carried a reward of Rs 45 lakh and was a prime suspect in the attack where 22 security personnel were killed in April 2021. He was a suspect in many other attacks against forces in the Bijapur and Sukma areas. While it was reported that six jawans sustained injuries in the encounter, officials are yet to confirm it.