Kashish Jain
The National Investigation Agency has declared a reward for INR 7 Lakhs for the arrest of the head of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Battalion 1 of Maoists.
This group was the one that was involved with the April Ambush of the Sukma-Bijapur border where 22 security personnel were killed. The person on whose head a metaphorical bounty has been placed is Madvi Hidma.
Though the reward had been announced in a 2019 case about the killing of Bhima Mandavi, who was a Chhattisgarh Legislator, the police have stated that Madvi was involved in the 2021 Sukma-Bijaspur attack. In this regard, the NIA filed a charge sheet against Madvi in the Bhima Mandavi Murder case.
During the recent Maoist attack, a team of NIA officials led by the DIG from Delhi and SP from Ranchi visited Chhattisgarh and the reward on Madvi was announced shortly after that.
40-year-old Madvi Hidma is a tribal from Puvrati village of Sukhma district who joined hands with the rebels in the 90s. Hidma leads the PLGA Battalion 1, which is a lethally armed and trained unit of a banned group active in Southern Chhattisgarh.