RAIPUR: One-and-a-half months after top Maoist gun Madvi Hidma was felled in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh, his confidant Barse Deva surrendered along with 40-odd rebels in neighbouring Telangana on Saturday, a development security officials described as the wipeout of PLGA battalion number 1, the most feared Maoist strike unit in Bastar.Deva and Hidma were not just comrades-in-arms; they were friends and contemporaries from the same village — Puvarti in Sukma district.Days before Hidma was killed on Nov 18 last year, Chhattisgarh deputy CM Vijay Sharma, who also holds the home portfolio, had travelled to Puvarti and met the mothers of both Deva and Hidma in their village.Both women, who had seen their sons’ names become synonymous with ambushes and gun battles, had publicly appealed to them to shun violence and join the mainstream. But within a few days, Hidma got killed and attention turned squarely to Deva.“Barse Deva along with his cadres had fled to neighbouring Telangana from Chhattisgarh,” Sharma told reporters in Raipur. “We were also in talks for their surrender here, but they decided to lay down arms in Telangana, which is also a good thing.”Puvarti had spent nearly four decades under Maoist dominance until a security camp was finally set up there in February 2024. Influenced by Hidma, Deva joined the Maoist ranks in 2003. Since then, the two, both from Koya tribal community, remained the inseparable comrades-in-arms.By the time of his surrender, Deva carried a cumulative reward of Rs 75 lakh, announced by Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and the NIA. As per his history sheet, he was involved in multiple ambushes where CRPF personnel were killed, and “several ambushes/raids like Jhiram Ghati, in which Mahendra Karma, a former minister, and other Congress figures, including Vidya Charan Shukla, were killed.”Officials say that Deva and Hidma together planned some of the most devastating attacks in the region, including: Darbha Ghati attack on May 25, 2013, which left 27 people dead, among them 10 security personnel, and April 2021 Sukma–Bijapur ambush, in which 22 security personnel were killed.
14 Maoists killed in Bastar as wipeout target looms
Security forces killed at least 14 Maoists on Saturday in two clashes in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, opening the first offensive of the year against Left-Wing extremism.The encounters in Sukma and Bijapur comes with the clock ticking on Centre’s March 31, 2026 deadline to end the insurgency nationwide, reports Rashmi Drolia.For forces, the biggest challenge over the next three months is to clear South Bastar of Maoists, their last stronghold. The Saturday encounters coincided with the surrender in Telangana of Barse Deva, one of Chhattisgarh’s most wanted Maoist commanders. Go to Source
