A SPECIAL NIA court in Bastar on Wednesday sentenced all10convicts in the 2013 JhiramValley Naxal attack to death. The court held them guilty under 24 sections in connection with the killingof29peopleinthe attack. The sentences were pronounced by Judge Ajay Singh Rajput. The court ordered that the sentences under different sections wouldrun concurrently. The accused were awarded death sentences under five sections, along with life imprisonment and fines under other provisions. The court held all 10 accused responsible for the deaths in the attack, which targeted the Congress Parivartan Yatra convoy on May 25, 2013. The accused have been in custody since the beginning of the trial. Legal experts said that the death sentences will be subject to confirmation by the High Court. Defence counsel Arvind Choudhary said the trial court’s verdict would be challenged before the High Court. The NIA had investigated the case and filed a chargesheet of more than 1,000 pages in 2015 against Mahadev Nag, Promila Modiyam, Sumitra Punem, Mukka Mandavi, Benjamin Sanna, Kawasi Joga, Chaitu Lekam, Ayata Madkam, Kawasi Kosa and Madkami Deva.

 

The chargesheet also named several senior Maoist leaders, including Ganapathy, Basavaraju, Bhupati, Devji, Sujata, Hidma and Barse Deva. Most of them could not be arrested. Some were subsequently killed in separate operations, while others surrendered. Attack on Congress convoy The Congress Parivartan Yatra convoy was returning after a public meeting in Sukma on May 25, 2013, when it came under a Maoist ambush in Jhiram Valley between Darbha and Tongpal. The attack claimed the lives of then Congress State president Nand Kumar Patel, former Minister Mahendra Karma, Uday Mudaliar and several other Congress leaders and security personnel. Senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla was critically injured and later died during treatment. The case records mention 31 deaths and 38 injuries in connection with the incident.