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National Investigation Agency (NIA) has intensified its operations in the Maoist-hit state of Chhattisgarh. Of late the premier agency has conducted dozens of raids in connection with cases linked to the proscribed Maoist group, Communist Party of India (Maoist).
In the latest episode, the agency officials conducted a series of searches in the Naxal-infested region of the State in connection with a CPI (Maoist) arrest and arms recovery case on Friday, June 28.
“Half a dozen places in the troubled region were extensively searched and several mobile phones, a printer, and cash amounting to around Rs 39 thousand were seized along with incriminating documents,” informed the agency in an official statement released on Friday evening.
A total of six premises in remote villages of Amabeda, Kalmuchhe, Mujalgondi, Jiwalamari of Maoist affected Kanker districts were searched during raids conducted in connection with the case on Friday, stated further the statement.
The case pertains to arrest and recovery of arms linked to the outlawed CPI Maoist in February 2024. The investigation was initially launched by the State police which was later taken over by the central agency on February 22 this year.
As many as two people have already been arrested in the case and further investigation into the matter is continuing, informed the agency further.
String of raids in Chhattisgarh
Notably, the fresh raids in Kanker have been conducted on the heels of searches conducted by the agency in as many as 12 locations in Maoist affected region of Chhattisgarh as part of its investigation into the brutal murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ratan Dubey in November last year.
The agency on June 26 carried out searches in several premises linked with various suspects and Over Ground Workers (OWGs) and supporters of the Bayanar Area Committee under the East Bastar Division of the outlawed CPI Maoist.
Premises in Kongera, Dhaudai, Toynar, Koushalnar and Badenhod villages of Narayanpur district were raided during which the agency eventually seized several mobile phones and cash amounting to around Rs 10 lakh along recovering pamphlets and literature linked to the Maoists.
NIA had taken over the investigation from the local police in February 2024 and has already chargesheeted an accused Dhansingh Korram alias Sukhdev Korram in the case in the first week of June this year.
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 an election campaign in a crowded weekly market at Koushalnar village of Narayanpur on November 4. He was later nabbed by the State police in December last year.
The NIA investigation into the matter 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. NIA had further disclosed that 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.
The raids in Narayanpur follows NIA’s searches on multiple locations in Gariyaband district on June 13 in connection with an attack carried out by the members of the outlawed CPI Maoist during state assembly elections of Chhattisgarh.
The sleuths of the agency carried out extensive searches on as many as 6 locations linked to suspected OGWs of banned CPI Maoist in Maoist-hit Badegobra village under Mainpur police station limits of Gariyaband district. Several mobile phones along with Rs 2,98,000 in cash were seized during the searches conducted by the agency as part of its ongoing probe in the case.
The case pertains to the attack on a poll party convey in which a head constable of Indo- Tibet Border Police (ITBP), ADHOC 615 battalion had received grave injuries in November last year. The case was taken over by the premiere investigative agency in February this year which had identified cadres of the outlawed Maoist outfit as perpetrators of the attack.
Other than the searches conducted, the anti-terror agency had also filed a chargesheet against as many as four cadres of the CPI (Maoist) in connection with a case linked to abduction and killing of a secret police personnel (Gopniya Sainik) in December last year.
In the chargesheet filed before a special NIA court in Chhattisgarh on June 21, the agency had named Guddu Kursam alias Vishnu Kursam, Hunga Mandvi alias Sunil Mandvi, Dula Kursam along with a juvenile, all residents of Bijapur district for the abduction and murder of Gopniya Sainik, Kishan Kurasam
All the accused chargsheeted by the investigative agency have been charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The NIA investigation into the case has revealed that the accused who were part of the conspiracy linked to abduction and murder of Kurasam were members of various frontal outfits of the outlawed Maoist group such as Moolvasi Bachao Manch and Chetna Natya Mandali, a cultural wing of the proscribed Maoist group.
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