2013 Jhiram valley Maoist attack: Chhattisgarh HC rejects NIA plea, paves way for police probe into 2nd FIR
In a setback to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday dismissed the probe agency’s appeal to quash or transfer the second FIR registered in connection with the 2013 Maoist attack in Jhiram valley that had killed 29 people, including several senior Congress leaders. The FIR in question was filed by slain Congress leader Uday Mudliar’s son Jitendra Mudliar in 2020.
A division bench of justices RCS Samant and Arvind Chandel passed the order, clearing way for the state police to carry on with the investigation into the alleged conspiracy behind the attack.
The central probe agency had moved the High Court after a special NIA court in Jagdalpur had rejected its plea.
On May 25 in 2013, Maoists ambushed and killed 29 people, including senior leaders Nand Kumar Patel, Vidya Charan Shukla and Mahendra Karma, during a poll campaigning tour in Bastar. The Congress had alleged “a bigger political conspiracy” behind the attack, demanding an independent inquiry. The case was transferred to the NIA the same year and the the Congress party termed the agency’s 2016 probe report “more of a cover-up than an investigation”.
After the Congress came to power in the state in 2018, the state police had several stand-offs with the NIA over access to the case files and investigation diaries.
In 2020, Jitendra Mudliar alleged that the NIA had not investigated the conspiracy angle of the attack and didn’t record statements of all those affected. He then filed a fresh FIR with the Bastar police.
The NIA moved the special NIA court demanding that since an FIR was already there, the second one should either be quashed or probe be handed over to it. After the NIA court rejected the agency’s plea, the agency moved the High Court.
