The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has chargesheeted as many as three Maoist in connection with the abduction and murder of three villagers of Kanker district in November last year, informed the agency on Saturday, May 25.
The accused Maoist namely alias Sanker Nureti alias Shanker, Sannu Ram Atlami alias Sunil and Suresh Katlami alias Kachlami have been chargesheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The NIA’s investigation into the case has revealed that all of the arrested accused were members of the CPI (Maoist) and were found to be involved in the outfit’s criminal conspiracy linked to abduction of Six villagers from Morkhandi village of Kanker district of Chhattisgarh in November last year.
Three of the villagers among those who were abducted were later killed on alleged charges of being police informers after the Maoists paraded them before a ‘Jan Adalat’, a self-styled parallel judiciary of the extremist and their supporters in Modemarka forest area on Novemeber 1st.
The press issue released by the premier investigative agency further has disclosed that the trio chargesheeted by the agency were actively involved in the conspiracy of abducting and killing of three innocent civilians and promoting and propagating the terror agenda of the CPI (Maoist) operating in the area through various fronts including Krantikari Kishan Committee, Mahila Mukti Manch, Revolutionary People’s council (RPC) and Jantana Sarkar, an Unlawful organisation declared by the Chhattisgarh government.
It is noteworthy that the NIA took over the case in February 2024 after it was initially registered by the Chhattisgarh police in November last year.
NIA’s crackdown on Maoist outfits
The development has occurred on the heels of NIA filing chargesheet against two accused in the 2022 CPI (Maoist) arms and ammunition seizure case of Jharkhand on May 22.
The accused, identified as Agnu Ganjhu and Khudi Munda, both residents of Jharkhand, were charged by the agency under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substance Act and UAPA. Both the accused have been charged in connection with a conspiracy hatched by the cadres of the CPI Maoist led by notorious Maoist and Regional Commander, Ravindra Ganjhu to launch a deadly attack on the security forces in the Bauxite Mines area to take revenge of the arrest of their Eastern Regional Bureau Chief Prashant Bose.
NIA Chargesheets 2 more in Jharkhand CPI (Maoist) Arms Seizure Case pic.twitter.com/abXCv15mSn
— NIA India (@NIA_India) May 22, 2024
NIA investigations into the matter have revealed that the members of the proscribed CPI Maoist had hatched a conspiracy to carry out violent acts and unlawful activities and endanger the security of India. Their plan was to destabilise the democratically elected Government by committing terrorist acts and violent attacks.
Earlier NIA had also filed a supplementary chargesheet against as many as three accused in connection with a case linked to the CPI Maoist in the first week of May.
The accused chargesheeted by the agency were identified as Hidma, Bade Chhoka Rao, alias Damodar, and Kamla who had been chargesheeted by the agency in connection with a case linked to seizure of drones, explosive materials and a Lathe machine from cadres of the banned CPI Maoist in Cherala of Telangana.
Both Hidma and Damodar are reported to be on the run in the case while the third accused Kamla has been lodging in jail. All the accused named in the supplementary chargesheet have been charged under section 120 B of the IPC, section 4 of Explosive Substance Act and various sections of the UAPA.
It is worth mentioning that alongside amplifying its effort in pushing for speedy trials in the cases linked to the Maoists, the central agency in recent times has also conducted raids on separate premises linked to the Over Ground Workers (OWG) of the banned CPI (Maoist) and other similar groups such as People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI).
