New Delhi: A special NIA court has convicted all 10 accused for planning and executing the 2013 Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, which had wiped out almost the state’s entire Congress leadership.
Defence counsel Arvind Choudhari in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh confirmed the verdict to ThePrint, adding that the quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on 16 September.
The convicted individuals are Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam alias Munna, Sumitra alias Sumitra Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandvi, Kosa Kavasi alias Kosaram, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Anna alias Chamru alias Denga, and Mahadev Nag.
The incident had taken place in Bastar’s Jheeram Ghati on 25 May, 2013, when the Congress leaders were holding a ‘Parivartan rally’ ahead of the 2013 state elections. According to reports from the time, around 250 naxals in civilian clothes had launched the attack. Eleven senior Congress party leaders were killed, including then state party chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh Patel, former Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma, former Union minister V.C. Shukla, former MLA Uday Mudliyar and local Congress leader Yogendra Sharma. Several security personnel were also killed.
According to the prosecution, as the convoy approached Jheeram valley, cadres of Communist Party of India (Maoist) first triggered a landmine, creating a crater on the road. Due to the blast, vehicles in the ‘Yatra’ could not proceed and were piled up.
The landmine explosion was followed by indiscriminate firing, grenade lobbing and incarcerated killing, resulting in the spot death of 24 people and grievous injuries to over 35 others, some of whom died later.
The main target was Mahendra Karma, who was leading Salwa Judum, a state-backed movement against Maoist insurgency which involved arming of local youths. It was later declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The attack has often been a flashpoint between the Congress and the BJP in the state.
The Congress accused the then BJP government of being involved in the incident, while the BJP alleged that the Congress was “deceiving” the family members of its party leaders killed in the attack and trying to “exploit” the issue politically.
The probe was handed over to the National Investigation Agency, which filed a chargesheet in September 2014 against 34 Maoists. The trial had been underway since.
The NIA took over the probe into the case and charged a total of 39 cadres of the banned outfit, including one Barse Sukka, alias Deva. Deva was then in-charge of the Darbha Divisional Committee and was appointed the overall commander to carry out the attack by the top leadership of the banned outfit, according to investigators. Dubbed as a childhood friend and understudy of now-slain Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, Deva had surrendered before Telangana Police in January this year.
In May 2013, the then BJP government in the state had also set up a Special Judicial Enquiry Commission to probe the attack.
A sitting high court judge, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, was appointed chairman of the commission, which was to submit its report within three months.
But its tenure was extended several times until 2019, when the commission closed its proceedings in January of that year.
However, after coming to power in the state in 2018, the Congress government extended the tenure of the judicial commission, with new terms of reference to the existing inquiry.
The commission submitted its report on 6 November 2021, but days later, the state government nominated a new chairperson and member while expanding the ambit of the commission and setting a fresh deadline for the probe.
BJP leader Dharamlal Kaushik challenged it before the high court, and the court stayed the notification in 2022. The notification has remained stayed ever since.
The Congress government had also appointed a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2019 to investigate the attack. Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had, at the time, alleged that the BJP government did not ensure a fair investigation in the Jhiram Ghati Naxal attack.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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