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India: Maoists’ Terminal Decline – Analysis

November 25, 2025November 25, 2025 SATP 0 Comments

By Deepak Kumar Nayak

On November 18, 2025, Madvi Hidma aka Hidmanna aka Santosh (51), second-in-command in the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) ranks, a Central Committee Member (CCM), Commander of the Central Military Commission and of the elite People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, was killed in an encounter with Andhra Pradesh’s elite Greyhounds in the Maredumilli Forest area near Kondavada village in Maredumilli Mandal (adminstrative division) in the Alluri Sitarama Raju District. Five others killed with him were identified as Hidma’s wife, Madakam Raje aka Rajakka, Lakmal, Kamlu, Malla and Deve. Security Forces (SFs) recovered two AK-47 rifles, one pistol, one revolver and one single-bore weapon, along with 28 AK-47 rounds, five pistol rounds and several empty shells. Additionally, 375 electrical detonators, 150 non-electrical detonators, 25 metres of fuse wire, one electrical wire bundle, seven kit bags and one laptop were seized.

Hidma was the only tribal leader in the Maoist Central Committee (CC), and one of the party’s most effective military commanders, directly responsible for at least 26 major attacks, including the Tadmetla massacre (2010) of 76 SF personnel, the Jiram Ghati ambush (2013) which killed Salwa Judum (anti-Maoist vigilante movement) leader Mahendra Karma and wiped out the top state Congress party leadership, the Burkapal attack (2017) in which 25 CRPF personnel were killed, and the Tekulguda ambush in which 21 SF personnel lost their lives. Crucially, the fact that he was killed, not in his heartland areas of the Abujhmadh Forests, but in unfamiliar territories in Andhra Pradesh, is an index of the degree of SF dominance in the Maoists’ last safe haven. Hidma’s killing sounds the death knell of Maoist resistance in what is evidently the terminal phase of the ‘revolutionary struggle’.

On November 19, 2025, seven CPI-Maoist cadres, including three women, were killed in an exchange of fire in the Rampachodavaram Forest area near GM Valasa village under Maredumilli Police Station limits in the Alluri Sitharama Raju District of Andhra Pradesh (AP). The slain cadres were identified as Improvised Explosive Device (IED) expert Metturi Joga Rao aka Tech Shankar aka Babu, a CCM, as well as a member of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), and in charge of the technical team; Jyothi aka Saritha, who worked as ‘guard commander’ to former Maoist chief Namballa Kesava Rao aka Basavaraju; Suresh aka Ramesh, who worked in Jagargunda in Chhattisgarh; Lokesh aka Ganesh, who served as the Jagargunda area ‘militia commander’; Sainu aka Vasu, who earlier worked as ‘Deputy Commander’ of Jagargunda; and Anitha and Shammi, who worked as Area Committee Members (ACMs) in Jagargunda. Security Forces (SFs) recovered two AK-47 rifles, five AK-47 magazines, five Single Barrel Breech Loading (SBBL) guns and one .303 rifle, along with 72 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 34 rounds of SBBL ammunition, 24 rounds of .303 ammunition, three kilograms of Cordex wire, 18 detonators, and kit bags from the encounter site.

Earlier, on June 18, 2025, three CPI-Maoist cadres, including two women, were killed in an exchange of fire with the Police in the Kintukuru Forest area under Rampachodavaram Police Station limits in the Alluri Sitharama Raju District. The slain cadres were identified as: Gajarla Ravi aka Uday aka Ganesh, a CPI-Maoist CCM who had over 150 criminal cases and carried a reward of INR 2.5 million; Venkata Ravi Chaithanya aka Aruna aka Ruppi, a ‘Special Zonal Committee Member (SZCM)’ with over 150 cases and a reward of INR 2 million; and Anju aka Mase aka Janu, a party member with 22 cases and a reward of INR 100,000. Police recovered AK-47 rifles, ammunition, kit bags, cash, Maoist literature and clothing from the encounter site.

On May 7, 2025, at least two senior CPI-Maoist cadres, including the AOBSZC member Kakuri Pandanna aka Jagan (57), were killed in an encounter with the Police between the Y. Ramavaram and the Addateegala forested areas in the Alluri Sitarama Raju District. The other Maoist killed was Division Committee Member (DVCM) Wanga Podiami aka Ramesh, of the Kalimela block in the Malkangiri District of Odisha. SFs recovered two AK-47 weapons at the encounter site.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 18 fatalities – all Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists) – have been recorded in Andhra Pradesh since the beginning of 2025 (data till November 23). During the corresponding period of 2024, one fatality (a civilian) was recorded, and no other fatality occurred during the remaining period of that year. One fatality (civilian) was also registered in 2023, as in 2022. A maximum of 317 fatalities – including 132 civilians, 21 SF personnel, 161 Naxalites, and three in the ‘unspecified’ category – was registered in the state in 2005. A low of one fatality (civilian) was recorded in 2022, 2023, and 2024. At least 1,669 fatalities – including 549 civilians, 133 SF personnel, 934 Naxalites, and 53 in the ‘unspecified’ category – have been recorded in Andhra Pradesh since March 6, 2000, when SATP began documenting data on Left Wing Extremism (LWE).

Following the encounters on November 18-19, 2025 (above), State Intelligence Department chief Mahesh Chandra Laddha said that the AP Police was working intensively to make the State free from the CPI-Maoist and other extremist elements by March 2026. A total of 13 Maoists were neutralised in back-to-back operations on November 18 and 19, marking one of the most significant anti-Maoist actions in recent years in the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border region.

Moreover, on November 19, 2025, the AP Police announced the arrest of 50 CPI-Maoist cadres/operatives across the Krishna, Eluru, NTR Vijayawada, Kakinada, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema districts, delivering a major blow to the organisation’s South Bastar and Dandakaranya networks. The arrested cadres/operatives include three senior SZCMs: Sode Lachu aka Gopal of South Bastar, Podiyam Rengu of Palamadgu in Sukma District, and Udde Raghu of Mukkaram village in Bijapur District. In addition, five Divisional Committee Members (DVCMs), 19 ACMs and 23 party members were also arrested.

Of the total arrested in AP, 28 are from Bijapur, 21 from Sukma, and one from the Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh. Police recovered 39 weapons, 302 rounds of ammunition, detonators, cordex wire, communication devices, and INR 1.3 million in cash from various locations during the searches.

Stating that many of the arrested cadres had fled from Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur and West Bastar Districts following sustained security pressure and the elimination of Hidma, State Intelligence Department chief Laddha disclosed,

After crossing into Andhra Pradesh, they sought temporary shelter in urban areas to regroup, rebuild their command structures and devise their next operational strategies and mainly prove their existence by conducting offences in Andhra Pradesh.

It is useful to note that AP has been a dominant locus of Left Wing extremism for decades. Significantly, despite facing great odds, the AP Police managed to contain the Maoist menace to a large extent by 2010. After the Centre launched Operation Kagar on April 21, 2025, aimed at ending Naxalism by March 31, 2026, Maoists in LWE-affected states faced increased pressure, forcing them to move into Andhra Pradesh.

With the elimination of leaders such as Uday, Jagan, Aruna, and Hidma, and the arrest of 50 cadres across multiple ranks, the Maoist organisational structures across the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) and South Bastar have collapsed, and the Maoists’ hopes of reorganisation remain bleak.

Meanwhile, on November 20, 2025, the AP Police informed the State High Court that current CPI-Maoist ‘General Secretary’ Thippari Tirupathi aka Devaji and senior leader Malla Raji Reddy were not in their custody, countering claims made in a habeas corpus plea. The petition, filed by Gangadhar of Telangana, alleged that the leaders were being secretly detained. The AP Police stated that the Maoists arrested across five districts on November 18 had already been produced before local courts. The High Court asked the petitioner to submit evidence, as civil liberties groups – the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist-New Democracy (CPI-ML-New Democracy) – claimed that the arrests and recent encounters in Alluri Sitharama Raju were “fake” and that Devaji had been detained. State Intelligence Department chief Laddha added that the force had “no information” on Devaji’s whereabouts.

Amid all these developments, on November 19, 2025, former Maoist leader Mallojula Venugopal Rao aka Bhupati released a video message urging Maoist cadres to lay down arms and return to the mainstream. Lamenting the heavy loss of lives in recent encounters and referencing the death of ‘commander’ Madvi Hidma, calling it a turning point for the movement, Venugopal declared:

We have lost too much for weapons, suffered immense damage, and sacrificed countless lives. The time has changed, the country has changed, and circumstances have changed. Armed struggle is no longer possible. We must work according to the Constitution. This is the only option. Do not ignore this reality – lay down arms and return to the people.

37 Naxalites have surrendered in 2025, in addition to 45 in 2024. In total, 3,902 Naxalites have surrendered across the State since March 6, 2000.

In the interim, on November 23, 2025, the Maoists announced a nationwide bandh in response to the encounters that neutralised 13 cadres in AP.

The Maoists are facing their severest crisis, as their guns gradually fall silent. Fearing reprisals by SFs, the Maoists’ Central Committee has yet to meet to decide their future course of action. The present situation, however, suggests that the dream of an armed struggle, based on mass mobilisation and socio-economic organisation, has died in the forests of their erstwhile areas of domination.