2013 Chhattisgarh Maoist attack: Court convicts all 10 accused, sentencing on September 16

A special court in Jagdalpur on Saturday convicted all 10 accused in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack case in which 29 people including senior Congress leaders Vidya Charan Shukla and Mahendra Karma were killedThe attack carried out in Chhattisgarhs Bastar district on May 25 2013 wiped out almost the entire top leadership of the Congress in the stateSpecial Judge for National Investigation Agency NIA cases Ajay Singh Rajput reserved his order on the quantum of punishment for September 16 defence lawyer Arvind Choudhary saidEleven accused were originally put on trial but one subsequently died The 10 convicted accused include two women Choudhary said The court recorded the statements of 101 witnesses during the trial news agency PTI reportedThe special court convicted Pramila Modiyam 40 Chaitu Lekam Sumitra Punem Modiyam Mukka Mandavi Kosa Kavasi Aayata Markam Madkami Deva Joga Madkami Banjami Sanna and Mahadev NagWe will appeal against the verdict in the High Court We have not received a copy of the judgment yet We will be able to state the grounds for appeal after receiving the order copy advocate Choudhary told PTIFamily claims two convicted accused were falsely implicatedGuddu Kavasi brother of accused Kosa Kavasi claimed that Kosa and Mukka Mandavi had been falsely implicated He claimed that both were busy with preparations for weddings in the village when the attack took placeThey were not there at the time of the attack Those who were involved have surrendered and are living freely while those who were not involved are paying the price The families are distressed and shattered Guddu saidMaoists ambushed the Congress Parivartan Rally ahead of the state Assembly elections on the national highway in Jhiram Valley on May 25 2013As many as 29 people including Congress leaders civilians and security personnel were killed and more than 30 others injured Those killed included then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Mahendra Karma former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla and senior Congress leader and former MLA Uday MudliyarThe then Raman Singhled BJP government handed over the probe to the NIA within two days of the attack The state government also constituted a judicial commission headed by then Chhattisgarh High Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra to inquire into the incidentThe NIA filed a charge sheet against nine arrested accused before the special court in Jagdalpur on September 25 2014 It filed a supplementary charge sheet against 30 accused on September 28 2015 with two of them subsequently arrestedSome of the accused named by the NIA as absconders later surrendered before the police officials saidIn January 2019 the Bhupesh Baghelled Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team SIT to probe the attack alleging that the NIA had not investigated the larger conspiracy behind itPolice subsequently registered a fresh FIR at Darbha police station on May 25 2020 under Sections 302 murder and 120B criminal conspiracy of the IPC against unidentified persons on the complaint of Jitendra Mudliyar son of slain Congress leader Uday MudliyarThe NIA moved the special court on June 16 2020 seeking transfer of the fresh probe to the agency The plea was rejected following which the agency approached the Supreme Court which declined to interfereThe issue became a major political flashpoint in Chhattisgarh with Baghel repeatedly alleging that the larger conspiracy had not been probedThe former chief minister also alleged that Maoist leaders Ganapathi and Ramanna were initially named in the NIAs FIR in connection with the conspiracy but their names did not figure in the charge sheetThe Congress also alleged that the NIA investigation lost its momentum after the NDA government came to power at the Centre in 2014The report of the Jhiram Ghati Inquiry Commission also became a subject of controversy The secretary and registrar of the Chhattisgarh High Court handed over the report to then Governor Anusuiya Uikey on November 6 2021 Baghel who was then chief minister questioned the manner in which the report was submitted to the Governor and said the state government had not received any information from Raj BhavanThe Congress government later reconstituted the judicial commission by appointing a new chairman and a member and extended its tenure by six monthsThe High Court however stayed the proceedings of the reconstituted commission after additional terms of reference were added The stay was granted while hearing a PIL filed by senior BJP MLA and then Leader of Opposition Dharam Lal KaushikWith PTI inputs