The special NIA court in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh has convicted 10 accused in the much-discussed Jheeram Valley attack of May 25, 2013. All these accused will be sentenced on September 16.
In this biggest attack by Maoists on any political party, 28 people including top Congress leaders were killed and 38 people were injured.
In this case that lasted for 13 years in the special NIA court of Jagdalpur, the prosecution presented 101 witnesses and tried to prove the charges on the basis of documentary evidence.
A total of 11 accused in the case were involved in the trial process. One accused died during the hearing and the verdict was given regarding the remaining 10 accused.
Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had already expressed apprehension about the decision and had said that no concrete effort was made in the investigation to reach the conspirators behind the Jheeram Valley massacre.
He had said that when the investigation itself has not been done properly, then the court's decision will also be taken only on the basis of available investigation and evidence.
The attack on 25 May 2013 in Jheeram Valley of Bastar was the biggest ever attack by Maoists on the leadership of a political party in India.
Congress's 'Parivartan Yatra' was returning from Sukma. At that time there was a BJP government in Chhattisgarh and Raman Singh was the Chief Minister.
Assembly elections were to be held in the state in November the same year. Congress was preparing to return to power and 'Parivartan Yatra' was part of that election campaign.
As soon as he reached the winding part of Jheeram valley of Bastar at around 4.15 pm, he was attacked. Subsequent investigation revealed that the Maoists had prepared to block the road, carry out explosions and surround the convoy.
According to the NIA charge sheet, the role of around 150 Maoists was planned in advance. Investigation also revealed that Maoist squads were present in the area for several days before the attack.
Most of the frontline leaders of the Congress party were killed in the attack on this Congress visit, which included many Congress leaders including State Congress President Nand Kumar Patel, former Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma and senior leader Uday Mudaliar.
Former Union Minister Vidyacharan Shukla was seriously injured in this attack by Maoists and later he died.
In this attack, 28 people including Congress leaders were killed and 38 were injured. Ten policemen were also among those killed.
After this attack, Maoists issued a statement saying that Congress leader Mahendra Karma, known as Bastar Tiger, was the target in this attack.
The Maoists later said on several occasions that their plan was to capture Mahendra Karma alive and punish him in a 'people's court'.
But after the attack, the security personnel accompanying the Congress leaders opened fire and in response the Maoists opened fire indiscriminately, following which many people were killed.
However, contrary to the Maoist claim, it had come to light that Congress President Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh Patel were captured alive and murdered after being taken away from the incident site.
But there is no reason to disbelieve that Mahendra Karma was the target of Maoists for many years.
Actually Mahendra Karma was one of the most influential tribal leaders in Bastar politics.
It was he who led the 'Salwa Judum' movement that emerged in 2005 after the campaign launched by him against the Maoists in the 1990s.
During this operation, 644 villages of undivided Dantewada were vacated, due to which a large number of tribals were displaced.
The movement later remained controversial due to allegations of widespread violence, displacement and human rights violations.
In the year 2011, the Supreme Court had expressed strong objection to the government support associated with Salwa Judum and the system of arming tribal youth and directed to stop this campaign.
Karma had long been a major adversary for the Maoists. Even during the Jheeram Valley attack, the attackers searched for him in the convoy.
According to eyewitness accounts, after Karma was identified he was taken aside and murdered.
This attack created such a void in the leadership of Chhattisgarh Congress, the impact of which remained visible on the politics of the state for years.
Two days after the attack, on 27 May 2013, the NIA took over the FIR lodged at the Darbha police station following orders from the Congress government at the Centre.
The agency registered it as RC-06/2013/NIA/DLI. In this, sections of murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, dacoity, arms law, explosive substances law and UAPA were imposed.
On 25 September 2014, the NIA filed a chargesheet against the nine arrested accused. On September 28, 2015, he filed a supplementary charge sheet.
The NIA described the attack as a planned action by the Maoist organisation, but did not establish the allegation of political conspiracy that has been discussed since the attack.
The main focus of the NIA investigation was on the Maoist network involved in the attack and the role of the accused.
After the Jheeram Valley attack, the question soon became part of the political debate whether the attackers had prior knowledge of the movement of the convoy, the leaders present in it and especially the presence of some leaders.
Suspicions of political conspiracy were raised at different times from within and outside the Congress.
The names of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and his son Amit Jogi also came up in political allegations and counter-allegations. Jogi family denied these allegations.
Similarly, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been claiming for a long time that Jheeram Valley was not just a Maoist attack but a political conspiracy.
After the formation of the Congress government in 2018, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Jheeram case.
The state government argued that the NIA investigation was mainly limited to the Maoists who carried out the attacks and questions like larger conspiracy, security lapses and information leaks were not adequately investigated.
Six years after the incident, a new FIR was lodged at Darbha police station on 25 May 2020. This complaint was from Jitendra Mudaliar, son of slain Congress leader Uday Mudaliar.
Serious allegations including murder and criminal conspiracy were made in this. Its objective was to conduct a separate investigation into the alleged 'larger conspiracy'.
NIA opposed this parallel investigation. Its argument was that it had already investigated the original case and the investigation of the conspiracy related to it should also be under the jurisdiction of the same agency.
The case went to court and in November 2023, the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the NIA's plea challenging the fresh FIR and investigation by the state police.
