Overview

• Odisha Police’s District Voluntary Force initiated a pre-dawn special operation on May 29 near Petaguda village in Koraput after receiving credible intelligence on Maoist cadre movements.
• Kunjam Hidma, an Area Committee Member of the banned CPI (Maoist) carrying a ₹4 lakh bounty and linked to seven major violent incidents, was captured after rebels opened fire and fled into the jungle.
• Authorities recovered an AK-47 rifle, 35 live rounds, 27 electric and 90 non-electric detonators, two kilograms of gunpowder, communication devices and Maoist literature from Hidma’s possession.
• Hidma joined the Maoist movement at age 14 in 2007 and rose through the ranks to his 2019 promotion as an Area Committee Member overseeing operations across Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
• The arrest follows the neutralization of other senior leaders like Nambala Keshav Rao and reflects an intensified, intelligence-driven push by state and central forces to eradicate Left-Wing Extremism by March 2026.