Hidma usually refers to Madvi Hidma , a now-deceased top Maoist commander in India, long seen as one of the most dangerous leaders of the CPI (Maoist) armed wing in central India.

Quick Scoop: Who is Hidma?

  • Madvi Hidma (often called just “Hidma”) was a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and commander of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, active mainly in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region (Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur).
  • He was considered a key strategist behind many deadly attacks on Indian security forces over nearly two decades, including the 2010 Dantewada/Tadmetla massacre in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, and other high‑casualty ambushes in Chhattisgarh.
  • He rose from a local cadre in Sukma district to become the youngest member of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, symbolising his importance inside the organisation.
  • Security agencies and media often described him as “shadowy” or “faceless” because for years they had no clear photograph; identification depended on surrendered cadres’ testimonies and sketches.
  • Governments and agencies across states placed a very high bounty on him (reported at over ₹1 crore in total) because of his alleged role in dozens of attacks on security personnel.

Background and rise

  • Hidma was born around 1981 in Puvarti (also written Poorvarti/Poorvarti) village in Sukma district, in the Bastar region, an area long affected by underdevelopment and Maoist insurgency.
  • He is reported to have studied up to Class 10 before joining the Maoist movement, reportedly influenced by seeing Maoists take up local development works like digging a village pond.
  • Over time he became area commander of PLGA Battalion No. 1 and an important figure in the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, which coordinates Maoist activity across parts of Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states.
  • Within the organisation, he was also known by aliases such as Deva, Santosh, Vilas, and Hidmalu, which is common practice among underground insurgent leaders.

Key incidents associated with him

Reports and police documents link Hidma to multiple major attacks, for example:

  1. 2010 Dantewada/Tadmetla attack, where 76 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest Maoist assaults on Indian security forces.
  1. 2013 Jhiram Ghati (Darbha valley) attack, which killed senior Chhattisgarh Congress leaders and others.
  1. Several high‑casualty ambushes in Sukma–Bijapur, including attacks in 2017 and 2021 where many security personnel were killed.

Security agencies credit him with deep knowledge of jungle terrain, use of local support networks, and careful planning of ambushes, which made him extremely hard to track and capture.

Death and “latest news”

  • In November 2025, Indian security forces reported that Madvi Hidma was killed in an encounter in the Maredumilli forest area of Alluri Sitharama Raju district in Andhra Pradesh, near the Andhra–Chhattisgarh–Odisha/Telangana tri‑junction.
  • The operation is described as an intelligence‑based, multi‑layered deployment where forces tracked Maoist movement over several days and then launched a targeted strike.
  • Along with Hidma, his wife Madakam Raje (also known as Rajakka), herself a divisional‑level Maoist cadre, and several other Maoists were reported killed.
  • Officials and media portray his death as one of the most significant blows to the Maoist insurgency in recent years, given his operational role and symbolic importance.
  • Before his reported death, there were repeated public appeals from both the government and his own family—especially his mother—asking him to surrender and “come home,” highlighting the human cost and social fracture caused by the insurgency in Bastar.

Other meanings of “Hidma”

  • Separately from the person, “hidma” is recorded in at least one Kannada dictionary as meaning a hiccup (a quick involuntary inhalation due to diaphragm spasm), but this is a linguistic usage and not related to the Maoist commander.

Simple HTML table overview

Below is a brief HTML table summarising the key facts:

html

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Aspect</th>
    <th>Details</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Full name</td>
    <td>Madvi Hidma (also known as Deva, Hidmalu, Santosh, Vilas)</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Role</td>
    <td>Top CPI (Maoist) leader, commander of PLGA Battalion No. 1, member of Central Committee and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Region of activity</td>
    <td>Bastar region (Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur) and neighbouring forest areas in central India</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Notable actions</td>
    <td>Alleged mastermind of multiple major attacks on security forces including 2010 Dantewada, 2013 Jhiram Ghati, later Sukma–Bijapur ambushes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Status</td>
    <td>Reported killed in a security forces encounter in Maredumilli forest area, Alluri Sitharama Raju district, Andhra Pradesh, in November 2025</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Other meaning of the word</td>
    <td>In Kannada, “hidma” can mean “hiccup” in a dictionary context (unrelated to the insurgent leader)</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Information gathered from public news reports, reference articles, and dictionaries available on the internet, and portrayed here.