NIA gives death penalty to 10 convicts in 2013 Maoist attack case
A special NIA court in Jagdalpur on Wednesday, September 16, awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jheeram Ghati Maoist attack case, one of the deadliest assaults on political leaders in India's history. The court had already found the accused guilty on September 5 and had reserved its order on the quantum of punishment.
The case relates to the May 25, 2013, attack by armed cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist) on the convoy of the Congress party's "Parivartan Yatra" in Jheeram Ghati, Darbha, in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district. According to an NIA press release, the Maoists carried out an IED blast, indiscriminate firing and grenade detonation, killing 24 people on the spot, including civilians and police personnel, and injuring more than 35 others. Senior Congress leaders killed in the attack included state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla, among others.
The convicts were found guilty under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including provisions relating to unlawful assembly, murder, dacoity and criminal conspiracy, along with the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
NIA's investigation established that the attack was a planned conspiracy by CPI (Maoist) cadres, in coordination with local committees, to target senior Congress leaders and security personnel as part of the outfit's "tactical counter offensive campaign." The agency had filed its original chargesheet against nine accused in September 2014 and a supplementary chargesheet against 30 more in September 2015, naming 39 people in total. The trial against the 10 convicted accused concluded after recording evidence from 101 prosecution witnesses; one chargesheeted accused died in judicial custody during the proceedings.
Reacting to the verdict, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai called the death sentence a "victory for justice," describing the Jheeram Ghati massacre as an agonising chapter in the state's history whose bitter memories would continue to weigh on people for a long time. He said the violence had claimed the lives of senior state leaders, security personnel and ordinary citizens alike.
The convicts retain the right to appeal the verdict, and under Indian law, a death sentence requires confirmation by the High Court before it can be carried out.
