The Andhra Pradesh police on Wednesday announced the arrest of 50 Communist Party of India (Maoist) operatives across Krishna, Eluru, NTR Vijayawada, Kakinada and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema districts, delivering a major blow to the organization’s South Bastar and Dandakaranya networks.
The detained individuals include three Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) members, logistics experts, communication operatives and armed platoon members, party members , many of whom were closely associated with Madvi Hidma, the central committee member, who was killed in a major encounter at Maredumilli forests in Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Tuesday morning.
Producing the arrested Maoists before the reporters at Vijayawada, state additional director general of police (intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha said this intelligence-led, multi-agency operation was “pin point, silent and coordinated,” planned under the leadership of director general of police Harish Kumar Gupta and special intelligence bureau chief P H D Ramakrishna.
“This multi-district operation followed the major exchange of fire that took place in Maredumilli area of Rampachodavaram sub-division where six Maoists, including most-wanted leader Madvi Hidma and his wife Raje, were gunned down,” he said.
Laddha said many of the arrested cadres had fled from Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur and West Bastar districts following sustained security pressure and the elimination of Hidma.
{{/usCountry}}Laddha said many of the arrested cadres had fled from Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur and West Bastar districts following sustained security pressure and the elimination of Hidma.
{{/usCountry}}“After crossing into Andhra Pradesh, they sought temporary shelter in urban areas to regroup, rebuild their command structures and devise their next operational strategies and mainly prove their existence by conducting offences in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Based on credible intelligence inputs about a large number of Maoist cadres fleeing from Chhattisgarh and taking shelter in various districts of Andhra Pradesh, particularly the urban areas, a multi-district operation was launched, which resulted in the arrest of 50 Maoist operatives in five districts.
The arrested include three senior Special Zonal Committee Members (SZCM)—the highest tier of Maoist leadership captured in the state in recent years. They are: Sode Lachu alias Gopal of the South Bastar, Podiyam Rengu of Palamadgu, in Sukma district and Udde Raghu Mukkaram village of Bijapur district.
“Together, these SZCM cadres were responsible for strategic planning, battalion-level supervision, cross-border coordination, and the movement of combat platoons between Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Their presence inside AP indicates a deliberate attempt by the Maoist leadership to reconstitute command structures after sustained pressure and major leadership losses in Chhattisgarh,” the intelligence chief said.
Besides, there are five divisional committee members, 19 area committee members and 23 party members among the arrested. While 28 of them are from Bijapur, 21 are from Sukma and one from Narayanpur district of Chhattigarh, he said.
During the searches, the police seized 39 fire arms, 302 rounds of ammunition, two magazines, four wires and other material, besides cash of ₹12.72 lakh.
“The capture of all three SZCM operatives in one coordinated operation marks a rare and decisive collapse of the top command layer of the CPI (Maoist) in the Dandakaranya region,” Laddha said.
Stating that many of the arrested were part of the team of Madvi Hidma, the additional director general said they were involved in multiple attacks in Chhattisgarh against security forces and political figures in India over the last two decades.