New Delhi:
More than 13 years after Maoists carried out one of their deadliest attacks in Chhattisgarh’s Jhiram Ghati, killing 29 people and virtually wiping out the Congress leadership in the state, 10 convicts have been sentenced to death by a Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court.
On May 25, 2013, Maoists ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders, who were returning after attending a Parivartan Rally, on a national highway in Jhiram Ghati (valley), under the Darbha police station limits in Bastar district.
Among those killed were senior Congress leaders, including then-state party chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, former Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Mahendra Karma, former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla, and former MLA Uday Mudliyar. Several security personnel and civilians were also killed.
Statements from 101 witnesses were recorded and a large tranche of documents examined during the case. Earlier this month, Special Judge Abhay Singh Rajput of the Special NIA Court in Jagdalpur convicted 10 people, including two women.
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On Wednesday, the court sentenced all 10 convicts to death under seven of the 24 charges against them and fined them Rs 800 each. The sentence can be executed only after the high court’s order and the convicts will remain in the central jail until then. They can appeal against the verdict in the high court within 30 days.
The NIA’s investigation established that armed cadres of the banned organisation CPI (Maoist), acting in conjunction with its local divisions, were part of a criminal conspiracy to attack and kill senior Congress leaders and security personnel in the convoy of the Parivartan Yatra. This was done as part of the Maoists’ Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign.
Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has repeatedly raised questions regarding the investigation into the attack and alleged that there was a larger conspiracy.
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He said that had the state government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) been given the opportunity to investigate independently, the individuals behind the alleged conspiracy could have been identified.
Former BJP national vice-president and ex-chief minister Raman Singh said Baghel did not care about the case. “He just wants to play politics over the issue,” Singh said.
(With inputs from IANS and ANI)
