Top Naxalite commander Madvi Hidma, who had masterminded several attacks over the last two decades, was killed in an encounter in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, a breakthrough Chhattisgarh Police described as the “last nail in the coffin” of the insurgency.

Security forces gunned down Hidma, his wife Raje, and four other Naxalites in the Maredumilli forest in Alluri Sitaramaraju district of the neighbouring state this morning, a senior police officer in Bastar confirmed.

Hidma's elimination is the “last nail in the coffin” of severely-weakened insurgency in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

“We have received information that Maoist leader Hidma is among the cadres killed on the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border. It is a very important development,” Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief M

See Full Page