Maoist Shelter Zone Revealed: How Andhra Pradesh Became Target Amid Crackdown

Maoists planned to use Andhra Pradesh as shelter zone before reviving movement

Vijayawada, Nov 19

Tuesday's encounter in Alluri Sitharama Raju district near the Odisha border, in which top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma and five others were killed, another exchange of fire on Wednesday morning in the same area killing seven Maoists, and the arrest of 50 Maoist cadre in five districts of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday all point to this strategy by the banned CPI (Maoist).

Additional Director General (Intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha said they had intelligence input about a lot of movement of Maoists from Chhattisgarh and Telangana, and that they were keeping a continuous watch.

"Based on specific information, an operation was launched on November 17. An exchange of fire took place in the ASR district on the morning of November 18 in which CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Hidma and five other Maoists were neutralised," he said.

The intelligence chief said in continuation of that, 50 Maoists were arrested in NTR, Krishna, Eluru, Kakinada and Konaseema districts on Tuesday.

Police presented the arrested Maoists before the media on Wednesday. All of them were from Chhattisgarh.

Those arrested include three special zonal committee members, 23 platoon members, five divisional committee members and 19 area committee members.

"For the first time in history, so many important senior-level cadres have been arrested in one go. They were leading the Maoist movement in Chhattisgarh," he said.

Those arrested include 27 members of the Maoist battalion headed by Hidma. The other group was from South Bastar, and the third group was the local cadre of Chhattisgarh.

The police seized 45 weapons, 272 rounds of ammunition, 20 pellets and 280 cartridges, two magazines, four knives, 750 grams of wire, communication equipment and Maoist literature.

"As per the information we have, they were initially planning to use Andhra Pradesh as a shelter zone, a safe area, get arms and ammunition and start movement from the Andhra Odisha border," he said.

The ADG also revealed that police used drones in Tuesday's operation to arrest the Maoist. The drones were flown to find out what was inside. The services of OCTOPUS and Greyhounds personnel, specialised in house intervention, were used.

He dismissed the criticism that the police did not know about the presence of so many Maoists. "We had our intelligence. We were keeping a track and were waiting for the right opportunity to strike. We arrested them in two hours because we knew the details. We did not want to spoil everything by acting prematurely," he said.

The ADG said that if the police had acted prematurely, they could have probably missed many people.

He reiterated that this was one of the biggest input-based operations. It was smooth and well executed by field officers.

"We were keeping a track of who was coming, why they were coming, where they were staying and what they were planning. We were keeping silent and observing everything," he said.

ADG Laddha assured all people of Andhra Pradesh that the state police and intelligence network are all alert to safeguard the state in the best possible way. He said there was no need for people to be worried due to arrests. "Whatever we are doing is towards the goal of making Andhra Pradesh Maoist-free."

Citing the information gathered from Chhattisgarh and Telangana counterparts, he said many Maoists started approaching. This is definitely going to have a big impact, and we can expect a huge number of surrenders in the coming days and weeks.

He stated that because of continued pressure in Chhattisgarh, Maoists were looking to come out to revive the movement. Initially, they tried to go to Telangana, but two major cadres surrendered in that state recently.

The Maoists were looking for new places outside Chhattisgarh. These include Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and other neighbouring states.

The ADG requested the Maoists to surrender and said they would get the amount on surrender and would be properly rehabilitated with skill development.

"Maoist ideology has been outdated. This is democracy. We have to live and let live. Please come, surrender and join the mainstream," he said.

He said police would ensure that no Maoist lives in Andhra Pradesh. "I assure the public we don't have any Maoists in Andhra Pradesh. Whatever is there in the forests after yesterday's encounter, we will try to neutralise them," he said.

Stating that there has been no fresh recruitment in the Maoist movement for the last 7-8 years, he claimed that this is where Andhra Pradesh has succeeded in checking the movement.

The ADG said the old Maoists had moved to states like Telangana and Chhattisgarh, where they either surrendered or neutralised.

He denied that CPI (Maoist) Central Committee Secretary Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji has surrendered.

"We don't have any information on where Devuji is now. He must be in Chhattisgarh or Telangana. He is not with us. We arrested his protection team. Once we talk to them, we will come to know what their plan was," he said.

When asked about the March 2026 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to end Naxalism, the ADG said the state police was working towards that goal.

The Andhra Pradesh police are helping Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand with whatever information they have and working in coordination with all agencies. "We are sure March 2026 is an achievable target after yesterday's encounter. It's is big blow to Maoist ideology and movement. I am sure a lot of people will come out voluntarily to join the mainstream," he said.

While not ruling out retaliatory action by Maoists, the intelligence chief said the police were taking all precautions. "We have alerted all intelligence units and advised public representatives in agency areas to have a re-look at their security."

— IANS