Jagdalpur, 16th September 2026: Today, the NIA Special Court, Jagdalpur, awarded the death penalty to all 10 convicted accused persons, having found them guilty under sections 147, 148, 149, 121, 121(A), 122, 341, 302, 307, 396, 397, 427 and 120(B) of the IPC, sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and sections 16, 18, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the UA (P) Act, in NIA case RC-06/2013/NIA/DLI (Jheeram Ghati Attack).
Earlier, on 5th September 2026, the Trial Court had found the 10 accused persons guilty and convicted them under various sections of the UA (P) Act, the IPC, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act, reserving the award of quantum of punishment. The case relates to the planned attack by armed cadres of the proscribed organisation CPI (Maoist) on the convoy of the INC Party’s “Parivartan Yatra” in Jheeram Ghati, Darbha, District Bastar, Chhattisgarh, on NH-221 on 25th May 2013.
The case relates to an IED blast, indiscriminate firing and grenade detonation, resulting in the on-the-spot death of 24 innocent civilians and police personnel, with more than 35 civilians and police personnel severely injured; 3 of the injured later succumbed to their injuries. Cadres of CPI (Maoist) also looted arms and ammunition, walkie-talkie sets, mobile phones and other belongings from the deceased and victims.
NIA filed the chargesheet (9 accused) and a supplementary chargesheet (30 accused) against a total of 39 accused persons on 25th September 2014 and 28th September 2015, respectively. The initial trial against 10 chargesheeted accused persons was completed with the recording of evidence of 101 prosecution witnesses. 1 arrested and chargesheeted accused died in judicial custody.
NIA’s investigation established that armed cadres of the banned terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist), in connivance with local committees/divisions, were part of a criminal conspiracy to attack and kill senior Congress leaders and security personnel in the convoy of the “Parivartan Yatra,” in pursuance of their Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC).
