NEW DELHI: Top Maoist leader Madvi Hidma, who headed the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion 1 of the Maoists, was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Andhra Pradesh's Alluri Sitaramaraju district on Tuesday.
He was gunned down 12 days before the November 30 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to eliminate the most wanted Naxalite, sources said.
Madvi Hidma was directly involved in more than 26 major Naxal attacks, making him one of India's most feared insurgent leaders.
He was killed in the dense Pullagandi forests located at the tri-junction of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.
Amit Shah had earlier set a deadline of March 31, 2026, to eliminate Maoists in the country.
"At a security review meeting, Shah also told the top security officials engaged in anti-Naxal operations to eliminate Hidma before November 30, and he was killed 12 days before this deadline," a source privy to the home minister's diktat.
After reviewing the operations against Naxals, sources said the left-wing extremism is likely to be over ahead of the home minister's March deadline.
Madvi Hidma was the commander of a battalion of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and a member of the Maoist Central Committee.
Born in Sukma in 1981, he was believed to be the only tribal member from Bastar to be part of this top leadership group.
(With inputs from PTI)