Jheeram Maoist attack case: HC dismisses NIA plea challenging trial court order

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenged a trial court order on the second FIR filed in connection with the 2013 Jheeram valley Maoist attack.

RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging a trial court order on the second FIR filed in connection with the 2013 Jheeram valley Maoist attack.

On May 25, 2013, Naxals attacked a convoy of Congress leaders during the party’s Parivartan Rally in Jhiram valley, killing 29 people, including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former union minister Vidyacharan Shukla. (Representational Image/AP File Photo)

A division bench of justices RCS Samant and Arvind Singh Chandel reserved its order on NIA’s plea on February 2, said additional advocate general Sunil Otwani, who represented the state government.

On May 25, 2013, Naxals attacked a convoy of Congress leaders during the party’s Parivartan Rally in Jhiram valley, killing 29 people, including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former union minister Vidyacharan Shukla. The Bastar police registered a first information report (FIR) at Darbha police station and subsequently NIA took over the probe.

Later, NIA filed a charge-sheet and the trial is underway before a special court.

But on May 26, 2020, after the Congress came to power in the state, another FIR was registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) at Darbha police station on the complaint of Jitendra Mudliyar, a Congress leader, who demanded that the conspiracy aspect of the attack be probed separately.

In 2020, NIA moved the special court at Jagdalpur (where trial is going on), seeking to restrain Bastar Police from investigating the fresh FIR. But the special court rejected the NIA’s application in August 2020, following which the agency approached the high court.

Additional solicitor general Vikramjit Banerjee and assistant solicitor general Ramakant Mishra argued that the trial court’s order was against the provisions of the NIA Act 2008.

They claimed that Section 6(6) of the NIA Act bars a state government from making further investigation into a case which has been transferred to the central agency.

But the Chhattisgarh government argued that the new FIR was totally different and outside the ambit of the NIA Act.