Jhiram Valley massacre: All 10 convicts get death penalty 13 years after Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh

The court found them guilty under multiple laws, while defense plans to appeal the verdict, citing dissatisfaction with the investigation.

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on Wednesday sentenced all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack case to death, 13 years after an ambush on a Congress Parivartan Yatra convoy in Bastar killed 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, and injured more than 35.

The Maoists ambushed the Congress convoy on NH-221 in Jhiram Valley in Darbha ahead of the 2013 Chhattisgarh assembly elections. (PTI/File)

Special judge Ajay Singh Rajput had convicted the 10 accused on September 5 and reserved the order on the quantum of punishment.

NIA counsel Dinesh Panigrahi confirmed that the court awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicts. “The court has awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicts,” Panigrahi said.

Defence lawyer Arvind Choudhary said the defence was not satisfied with the verdict and would challenge it in the high court.

The convicts are Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam, Sumitra Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandavi, Kosa Kavasi, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna and Mahadev Nag. Pramila Modiyam and Sumitra Punem Modiyam are the two women among those convicted.

The Maoists ambushed the Congress convoy on NH-221 in Jhiram Valley in Darbha ahead of the 2013 Chhattisgarh assembly elections. The attack began with an IED blast, followed by indiscriminate firing and grenade attacks. Twenty-four people were killed on the spot and more than 35 civilians and police personnel were injured. Three of the injured later succumbed to their injuries, taking the death toll to 27, the NIA said.

Those killed included then state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh Patel, former Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma, former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla and senior Congress leader and former MLA Uday Mudliyar.

The timeline of the case.

The NIA said its investigation established that armed cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist), in connivance with local committees and divisions, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to target senior Congress leaders and security personnel travelling with the Parivartan Yatra as part of the outfit’s Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC). The state police initially registered a case, but the then Raman Singh-led BJP government handed over the investigation to the NIA within two days.

The agency filed its first charge sheet against nine accused on September 25, 2014, and a supplementary charge sheet against 30 accused on September 28, 2015, naming 39 accused in all.

Eleven arrested accused were put on trial, but one died in judicial custody. The trial saw the examination of 101 prosecution witnesses and presentation of documentary evidence.

The investigation also named several senior CPI (Maoist) leaders, including Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, Barse Deva and Ganesh Uikey.

The larger conspiracy behind the attack remains a political issue in Chhattisgarh, with the Congress repeatedly alleging that the NIA did not fully investigate it.

In January 2019, the then Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT). A fresh FIR was registered at Darbha police station on May 25, 2020, under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against unidentified persons on a complaint by Jitendra Mudliyar, son of slain Congress leader Uday Mudliyar.

The NIA later sought transfer of the fresh probe to the agency. After its plea was rejected, it moved the Supreme Court, which declined to interfere.

Commenting on the judgment, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee president Deepak Baij said the verdict amounted to “half and incomplete justice” and that the party respected the court’s decision.

“The court has punished only those against whom evidence was placed before it. The NIA could not reach the conspirators behind the attack and its investigation was directionless from the beginning,” Baij said.

“The NIA made those who carried bags, supplied water, dug pits and showed routes accused in the case, and they have now been punished. But such a major attack could not have taken place without senior Maoist leaders,” he said.

Baij also questioned why punishment had been awarded to only 10 people if, as the agency had stated, around 200 Maoists were involved in the attack and 39 people had been named as accused.

“If 200 Maoists were involved in the incident and 39 were named as accused, why have charges been proved and punishment awarded against only 10?” he asked.

The Congress had alleged that the NIA probe lost momentum after the NDA government came to power at the Centre in 2014.