Maredumilli is a bustling eco-tourism hub in the Alluri Sitarama Raju district of Andhra Pradesh.

In late November, SUVs from nearby cities threaded along its scenic roads. Eco-cottages overflowed with visitors. Young people snapped selfies near the Pamuleru canal that runs along the hills.

Others paused at smoke-filled kitchenettes to sample bamboo chicken, a specialty of the local Adivasi community, unaware that just days ago the police had gunned down top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma in a nearby forest.

Hidma, 51, was the youngest and only Adivasi member of the central committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), which has been mounting a low-intensity insurgency in the forests of central and eastern India for decades.

For the Maoists, Hidma, born in Puwarti village in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, was a son of the soil who had risen through the ranks to become the commander of their most important military unit.

For Chhattisgarh police, he was one of their most wanted insurgents – a man who had led 16 major attacks in the state, including the 2010 ambush in which 76 paramilitary jawans lost their lives. According to them, Hidma was responsible for the deaths of 300 security personnel.

Eventually, however, it was the police of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that got to...

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