The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet against one more cadre of the proscribed Communist Party of India Maoist (CPI Maoist) in connection with the targeted killing of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader of Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh in November last year, said the agency on Thursday, June 6.
The accused, identified as Dhansingh Korram alias Sukhdev Korram, an active cadre of the banned Maoist outfit, has been chargesheeted by the NIA in a case linked to the then BJP vice president of Narayanpur, Ratan Dubey’s murder carried out by the Small Action Team (SAT) of the CPI Maoist on November 4 last year.
Korram has been chargesheeted under the relevant section of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a chargesheet filed by the premier agency before a special NIA court of Jagdalpur on Wednesday.
According to the investigation by the NIA, the accused, Korram was actively involved in the conspiracy pertaining to the targeted killing of Dubey, who was brutally hacked to death after the latter was out on a election campaign in a crowded weekly market at Koushalnar village of Narayanpur district.
The NIA investigation has revealed that the conspiracy behind Dubey’s murder was aimed at disrupting the free and fair election process and spreading terror among the local residents.
Korram had conducted recce of the BJP leader and had subsequently informed the assailants about his presence in the Koushalnar weekly market on November 4. During the attack on Dubey, Korram threw Naxal (Maoist) pamphlets at the spot and then escaped, according to the agency in a press release.
The case was initially registered by the local police, which was subsequently taken over by the NIA in February this year, which has now chargesheeted Korram. Notably, Korram was arrested by Chhattisgarh police on December 10 last year.
String of targeted killings
Significantly, in a brutal display of raw violence against unarmed civilians in the state of Chhattisgarh, the extremists have carried out targeted killings of around a dozen political representative mostly associated with the BJP in last year and a half alone.
This includes the recent killing of a BJP worker, Pancham Das, who was brutally hacked to death by the members of the SAT team of the outlaws in Dandwan village under Farasgaon police station limits of Narayanpur on April 16, 2024.
The Maoists, after the murder, also dropped pamphlets claiming Das to be an informant of the police. In the banners and posters, the extremists had also appealed to hit back the ruling BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Earlier, a BJP worker identified as Tirupati Katlu was also stabbed to death by a SAT team of the Maoists when the latter was returning from a wedding function on March 1 this year.
Following Katlu’s murder, the extremists had also abducted and killed the Vyapar Prakoshtha block vice president, Kailash Nag who was reviewing the development work of the forest department’s neat Kotmeta forest area under the Jangla police station limits of Bijapur itself. Katlu was reported to be on the hit-list of the Maoist.
It is worth mentioning here that the Maoist had also carried out killing of the then BJP president of Usur block of Bjapur, Neelkanth, when the latter had arrived to attend a wedding function in Paikram village under the Awpalli police station, in February last year. Days later, the ultras in a separate attack had also shot dead the then vice president of the Narayanpur unit of BJP, Sagar Sahu at his home.
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