A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh ’s Bastar district on Wednesday sentenced all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack case to death, 13 years after an ambush on a Congress Parivartan Yatra convoy in Bastar killed 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, and injured more than 35.
The attack began with an IED blast, followed by indiscriminate firing and grenade attacks. Eleven arrested accused were put on trial, but one died in judicial custody. NIA counsel Dinesh Panigrahi confirmed that the court awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicts. The Maoists ambushed the Congress convoy on NH-221 in Jhiram Valley in Darbha ahead of the 2013 Chhattisgarh assembly elections. Twenty-four people were killed on the spot and more than 35 civilians and police personnel were injured. Three of the injured later succumbed to their injuries, taking the death toll to 27, the NIA said. The trial saw the examination of 101 prosecution witnesses and presentation of documentary evidence. In January 2019, the then Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT). A fresh FIR was registered at Darbha police station on May 25, 2020, under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against unidentified persons on a complaint by Jitendra Mudliyar, son of slain Congress leader Uday Mudliyar.
“The court has awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicts,” Panigrahi said.
The state police initially registered a case, but the then Raman Singh-led BJP government handed over the investigation to the NIA within two days. The investigation also named several senior CPI (Maoist) leaders, including Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, Barse Deva and Ganesh Uikey. “The court has punished only those against whom evidence was placed before it.
The NIA said its investigation established that armed cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist), in connivance with local committees and divisions, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to target senior Congress leaders and security personnel travelling with the Parivartan Yatra as part of the outfit’s Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC). The NIA could not reach the conspirators behind the attack and its investigation was directionless from the beginning,” Baij said.
