Major BLOW to Maoists after killing of commander Madvi Hidma, 15 surrender in Sukhma
The killing of most wanted Maoist commander Madvi Hidma on the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border triggered a wave of desertions within the outlawed CPI (Maoist); fifteen active cadres laid down arms in Sukma district on Monday, carrying a bounty worth around fifty lakh rupees.
The killing of most wanted Maoist commander Madvi Hidma on the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border triggered a wave of desertions within the outlawed CPI (Maoist); fifteen active cadres laid down arms in Sukma district on Monday, carrying a bounty worth around fifty lakh rupees.
The group, consisting of ten men and five women, officially surrendered in the presence of Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan at the district police headquarters.
Among them were four hardcore members of the dreaded No. 1 People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army Battalion – PPCM Madvi Sanna, Sodi Hidme, Suryam alias Ravva Soma and Meena alias Madvi Bheeme – each with a bounty of eight lakh rupees on their heads.
District Committee Member Sunita alias Kuhram Hungi and Madkam Pandu were carrying five lakh rupees each, while militia member Kunjam Singa was wanted for three lakh rupees.
The remaining eight belonged to village-level units such as KAMS, DAKMS, Revolutionary People’s Committee and the Maoist economic wing.
Speaking to reporters, SP Chavan said the surrenders were a direct result of the leadership vacuum and had deepened the fear created by Hidma’s elimination earlier this month.
The constant expansion of security camps deep inside former Maoist strongholds, coupled with the Chhattisgarh government’s attractive Naxal Submission Rehabilitation Policy-2025, has demoralized the cadres.
Many of those who surrendered told officers they were tired of internal pressures, constant directives from defecting senior officials, and the organization’s brutality against the tribal villagers it claimed to represent.
Announcing that an incentive of fifty thousand rupees will be given immediately to each person who surrenders, SP Kiran Chavan appealed to the remaining Maoists to refrain from violence.
“No one can build a future by walking the path of the gun. Those who return will be rehabilitated with dignity and connected to all government welfare programs so that they can live respectfully in society,” he said.
Sources at the police station confirmed that many more cadres from South Bastar are in touch with the authorities and are likely to surrender in the coming days.
With Monday’s development, the number of Maoists who have left the movement in Chhattisgarh this year has crossed 650; this signaled a rapid collapse of the four-decade-old insurgency before March 2026, the Centre’s deadline to end Maoism.
