In the Heart of the Red Corridor: The Last Battle of Inspector Ashish Sharma and the Fall of a Maoist Giant
When dawn broke over the dense, unforgiving forests at the tri-junction of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra, Hawk Force Inspector Ashish Sharma was already deep inside Maoist territory, leading his team on a high-risk joint operation.
By 8:30 am, the silence of the jungle had been shattered by gunfire — the kind of fierce, close-range combat the region had lived with for decades.
It was in this chaos that Inspector Sharma — one of Hawk Force’s most decorated heroes — took grievous bullet wounds to his abdomen and thigh while pushing his men forward against a large, heavily armed Maoist group.
Despite the injuries, officers say he continued giving commands, holding the frontline until his men could retreat to safer ground.
He was airlifted toward medical care, but the wounds were too deep. At the Dongargarh Community Health Centre, surrounded by uniformed colleagues, Inspector Sharma breathed his last — another soldier claimed by a conflict that has consumed generations.
His death comes at a moment when the Maoist movement itself is crumbling from within and without.
Just days earlier, security forces in Andhra Pradesh had gunned down Madvi Hidma — a name that once cast terror across the Red Corridor.
Hidma, 51, a top-ranking Central Committee member of CPI(Maoist), was believed to be the mastermind behind some of the deadliest ambushes on Indian forces.
His killing, along with that of his wife and four others, marked one of the biggest blows to the insurgency in recent memory.
“It’s over for the Maoists. The CPI(Maoist) is finished,” a Telangana intelligence officer had said shortly after Hidma’s body was recovered from the forest.
And yet, while Maoist strongholds fall, the cost paid by India’s security forces remains high — and men like Inspector Sharma represent the front line of that sacrifice.
Sharma was no ordinary officer. Twice awarded gallantry medals, he had earned an out-of-turn promotion earlier this year after a daring operation that neutralised three hardcore Maoist women cadres in the Raunda forests.
His colleagues say he led from the front, never asking anyone to take a risk he wouldn’t take himself.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called him “a warrior who laid down his life fighting Naxal insurgents,” adding that his bravery would forever remain a part of the state’s legacy.
Meanwhile, inside the Maoist organisation, fissures have widened into deep cracks.
With Hidma gone, earlier losses — including the killing of general secretary Basavaraju and the surrender of central ideologue Sonu — have pushed the outfit to what security officials call its “weakest phase” in decades.
Letters leaked from within the party revealed ideological wars, accusations of betrayal, and growing disillusionment with armed struggle itself.
Senior Maoist leaders like Devuji and Sunirmal remain on the run, limited in movement, surrounded by shrinking cadres and intensifying pressure. Recruitments have dried up.
Safe zones have vanished. Several central committee members are dead or have surrendered. The red shadow is thinning.
But on the ground, victories against insurgency continue to come at a price — the lives of men like Inspector Ashish Sharma, who walked into the forests knowing the risks, fighting for a future where others would not have to.
His story now stands as both a symbol of courage and a reminder: peace is built not only on victories, but on valour and sacrifice.
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