A significant anti-Maoist operation conducted in Andhra Pradesh's Maredumilli region resulted in the killing of seven Maoists on Wednesday, a day after six Maoists were eliminated in a related encounter. 

The seven were killed roughly seven kilometres from the initial site of the Monday exchange of fire, in a forested area within the Alluri Sitaramaraju district. Among the deceased were three women Maoists.

One of the identified Maoists was Meturi Jokha Rao, also known by the alias Tech Shankar. He was a native of Srikakulam and held the position of Area Committee Member (ACM) responsible for the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB).

Shankar was involved in specialised technical roles such as arms manufacturing, communication, and other technical logistics critical to the Maoist operations. He had about twenty years of experience in the Maoist movement and was believed to have relocated to Andhra Pradesh to revive the insurgency in the southern part of the country.

The operation followed the killing of Madvi Hidma, a dreaded Maoist commander and notorious killer within the insurgency, killed on Tuesday during the same operation in Maredumilli. Hidma was the commander of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1, the most potent military wing of the Maoists in the Dandakaranya region, which covers parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Bastar.

He was credited with masterminding at least 26 deadly attacks over two decades, including the infamous 2010 Dantewada CRPF massacre and the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush in which several Congress leaders were killed. Hidma's death is considered a momentous blow to the dwindling Maoist insurgency in India.

The intensified security operations in the region were based on actionable intelligence indicating recent movements of Maoist teams crossing from Chhattisgarh into Andhra Pradesh. The security forces conducted sweeping operations in the dense forests, aimed at dismantling escape routes and operational networks used by the Maoists.

The successive encounters and elimination of key figures like Shankar and Hidma signify a major crackdown on the Maoist insurgency, delivering a severe setback to their organisational capabilities and leadership structure.

The security forces' success in these operations is part of a broader campaign that has led to the killing of over 300 Maoists since early last year, with continued efforts to eradicate the Maoist presence from their strongholds across central and eastern India. The death of such top leaders underscores the strategic dismantling of the Maoist network amid ongoing counter-insurgency drives.​

Based On PTI Report