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NIA files charge sheet against key accused in 2024 Maoist attack in Jharkhand
The accused has been identified as Abhijeet Koda alias Sunil Koda alias Matla Koda alias Matlu of Jamui district in Bihar.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said it has filed a charge sheet against a key accused in the Maoist attack on security forces in Jharkhand’s Bokaro in 2024.
The accused has been identified as Abhijeet Koda alias Sunil Koda alias Matla Koda alias Matlu of Jamui district in Bihar.
An armed cadre of CPI (Maoist), Koda was part of the proscribed Left-wing extremist organisation’s criminal conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and promote or strengthen the outfit in association with its other leaders/cadres, the NIA said in a statement.
“Investigations revealed that he was working as a courier and messenger for senior Maoist leaders, and also supported their efforts to expand the outfit and carry out unlawful or criminal activities,” the agency said.
The incident took place in February 2024 when Jharkhand Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) started a search and combing operation in the Sundari Pahari forest area of Chatro-Chatti in district Bokaro following inputs of 15-20 Naxal cadres camping there.
The cadres were reportedly planning to commit crime, recruit youth, levy collection and attack security forces, as per the inputs received by the police.
During the search operation, the Naxals started firing indiscriminately at the forces, who then retaliated with full force.
“While the Maoist cadres managed to escape into the thick forest, the security forces seized a laptop with charger, a pen drive, a wireless handset, a FM receiver radio, a list of phone numbers, Naxal literature, pencil battery, portable scanner, live/fired cartridge, gun powder, pellets, striker for pellets, etc., from the area,” NIA said.
Union home minister Amit Shah has directed security forces to eliminate Left-wing extremism (LWE) by March 2026. The NIA has been particularly tasked to probe the funding of Maoists and has been given several cases in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and other states related to Naxal violence in the last 3-4 years.
According to data from the ministry of home affairs, while the country witnessed 16,463 Maoist attacks between 2004 and 2014, it came down 53% to 7,744 over the next decade. In these incidents, the number of deaths of security forces came down from 1,851 (2004-14) to 509 (2014-24) while civilian deaths also came down 70% from 4,766 to 1,495 during the period.
Between 2019 and 2025, central forces, in collaboration with state police, have established 320 camps in LWE-affected states, including 68 night-landing helipads. Besides, the number of fortified police stations, which was 66 in 2014, has now increased to around 620.
