The NIA on Saturday conducted searches at multiple locations in the Gariyaband district of Chhattisgarh in the 2023 state assembly polls IED blast case, it said in a statement.
The blast was carried out by CPI (Maoist) cadres while a convoy of polling and security personnel was returning from Badegobra village after voting on November 17.
A head constable of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's (ITBP) ADHOC 615 Battalion was killed in the attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) statement said.
NIA teams on Saturday conducted searches at premises linked with nine suspects in the Maoist-infested sensitive areas of the remote Chhotegobra village under Mainpur police station, it said.
Several mobile phones and digital devices were seized during the operation, the agency said.
The NIA, which took over the case in March, has identified certain supporters/overground workers of the banned CPI (Maoist) as suspects involved in supporting the outfit in executing the attack, it added.
