New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday chargesheeted two Maoist operatives for their involvement in November 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly poll blast case, officials said.
Dhanesh Ram Dhruw and Ramswrup Markam have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the supplementary chargesheet filed before a court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, they said.
With this, 12 accused have been chargesheeted in the case. Ten others were chargesheeted earlier in December 2024 in the case.
During the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in November 2023, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion killed an ITBP head constable, a statement issued by the NIA said.
The blast followed a poll boycott call by proscribed terror outfit CPI (Maoist) in Badegobra village of district Gariyaband.
The explosion took place when a polling team accompanied by security personnel was returning from Badegobra village after the completion of the voting process, it said.
Dhruv was a headmaster in a government primary school and Markam was sarpanch of Chhotegobra panchayat in Gariyaband district that has a sizeable presence of Naxals, the statement said.
Both were allegedly involved in providing logistics and financial support to members of CPI (Maoist) for carrying out the attack, according to the NIA investigation.
Dhruv had allegedly actively assisted CPI (Maoist) cadres in making posters and banners for boycotting the assembly elections, among other things, the probe agency said.
Markam had allegedly arranged incriminating materials, such as wires, switches, and firecrackers, for the Naxals before carrying out the IED blast, it added.
NIA, which took over the probe in February 2024, said that it found the attack to have been planned by CPI (Maoist) Central Committee members Ganesh Uikey and Manoj, and Special Zonal Committee Member Satyam Gawade.
It was allegedly carried out by cadres of the outfit’s Gobra Dalam with the support of over ground workers (OGWs) from Badegobra-Chhotegobra village, the NIA said. PTI AKV SKY SKY
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