Revealed: How Top Maoist Madvi Hidma's Quiet Plan to Surrender Collapsed Days Before His Death

A secret letter and police sources show top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma had been trying to surrender but faced resistance from his comrades. After the Sukma encounter, he made rushed attempt to reach Andhra Pradesh but walked into police stakeout.

Top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, long known as one of India's most dangerous insurgents, was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. But new information now shows that in the days before his death, he may have been trying to surrender. A letter written by Hidma to a Bastar-based journalist, along with details shared by police officers from Telangana and Chhattisgarh, points to a failed last-minute attempt to give himself up, as reported by The Times of India.

The 43-year-old commander, who led several deadly attacks over nearly two decades, appears to have realised there was no way out after heavy pressure from security forces and rising risks from within the Maoist organisation itself.

Pressure from security forces pushed him to reconsider

Security forces had been closing in on Hidma for months. Telangana officers have now confirmed that Hidma had dropped enough signs to suggest he was thinking about surrendering. Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma had also met Hidma's mother earlier, encouraging her to help convince him to give up arms and return home safely.

Sources said the intensified operations following the November 16 Sukma encounter, in which three Maoists were killed, changed his calculations. Hidma had evaded forces in Chhattisgarh for years, but the growing pressure and lack of safe hideouts forced him to alter his movement plans.

Blocked by his own comrades in Telangana

Even as he moved towards a surrender plan, Hidma's own organisation reportedly held him back. Sources said some Maoist members in Telangana strongly opposed his entry into the state. They feared that if he came to Telangana to surrender, he might expose sensitive organisational information.

This rejection left him stuck between advancing security forces and his own group's refusal to offer safe passage.

His last-minute dash towards Andhra Pradesh

With nowhere else to go, Hidma decided to head towards Andhra Pradesh. According to officials, he was attempting a fresh route to try and contact mediators, but Andhra police had already set up an operation in the Marudumilli forests. As he moved through these forests, he walked straight into the police stakeout, the TOI report added.

In the encounter that followed, Hidma, his wife Raje, and other Maoists, including Chelluri Narayana and Tech Shankar, were killed.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was briefed soon after the operation. Officials noted that Hidma was eliminated before the November 30 deadline fixed by security agencies for his capture.

A letter that revealed his struggle to surrender

A key part of the story comes from a Bastar-based journalist who revealed that he had received a letter from Hidma only days before the encounter. The journalist, who requested anonymity, said Hidma wrote to him asking for help in negotiating a safe surrender with the government.

The letter, typed on sheets of paper and dated November 10, has been seen by TOI. In the letter, Hidma said the Maoist organisation was not ready to allow a surrender because of 'problems and security risks'. He wrote that the government would have to choose a surrender location based on his 'preference' and only if his safety could be guaranteed.

The letter also mentioned that he planned to release an audio message in both Hindi and Telugu in four to five days. He asked the journalist to come to Andhra Pradesh, where he was hiding, for a face-to-face meeting.

The journalist said, 'I regret I got late', explaining that he had earlier helped with the surrender of 210 Maoists in Jagdalpur and believed he could have helped Hidma too.

Hidma's long violent track record

Madvi Hidma, born in 1981 in Purvathi in Sukma district, rose to become one of the Maoist movement's most feared commanders. He headed the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, known as the Maoists’ most lethal strike force. He was the youngest member of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee and the only tribal from Bastar to reach that level.

A reward of Rs 50 lakh had been placed on him.

He was responsible for at least 26 deadly attacks. These included:

• 2010 Dantewada attack, killing 76 CRPF personnel
• 2013 Jhiram Valley massacre, killing 27, including senior Congress leaders
• 2017 Sukma attack, killing 26 CRPF jawans
• 2021 Sukma-Bijapur encounter, killing 22 personnel

Security forces say the region has turned a corner

P. Sundarraj, IG Bastar, said recently that forces are hopeful of making Chhattisgarh 'Naxal-free' by March 31, 2026. He said more than 2,200 Maoists have joined the mainstream in the past 20 months. He also said that over the last two seasons, forces recovered around 450 Maoist bodies, including those of top cadres like Basavaraju.

More than 300 cadres, including senior committee members, have surrendered in the last few months.

With Hidma’s death, security officials believe a major turning point has come in the long fight against Maoist violence in central India. But the letter he left behind tells a different story, of a man who finally realised he had no escape and tried, too late, to step away from the path of violence.

(With ANI inputs)