Jhiram Valley attack: Names of top Maoist leaders dropped from NIA's final report, claims Chhattisgarh CM; slams BJP

Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel. File Photo

The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party over the removal of names of top Maoist leaders Ganpati and Ramanna from the National Investigation Agency's final report on the 2013 Jhiram Valley attack. The attack had led to killings of several leaders and workers of the Congress party.

Maoists attacked a convoy of Congress leaders during the party's 'Parivartan Rally' in the Jhiram Valley in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh on May 25, 2013, killing 29 people, including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former Union minister V C Shukla.

Before leaving for Jagdalpur in Bastar to attend an event to pay respect to victims of the attack, Baghel while speaking to reporters accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of stalling the investigation into the incident.

"The Jhiram Valley incident shocked the entire nation. The then UPA government had ordered a National Investigation Agency probe into it, while the then (BJP) state government (of Raman Singh) constituted a one-member judicial commission headed by Justice Prashant Mishra to investigate it," Baghel said.

"The NIA in its FIR had named Naxalite leaders Ganpati and Ramanna and their names were in the case till August 2014. However, in September 2014, when the initial report was presented by the NIA in court the names of the two Maoist leaders were missing. In the final report too, they have not been named as accused," Baghel said.

Baghel asked why the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Narendra Modi government at the Centre had "saved' Ganpati and Ramanna, adding that the name of a criminal once included in a FIR is not removed.

"The BJP should clarify why their (Ganpati and Ramanna) names were removed and why they want to save these Naxalite leaders," Baghel said.

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He said the judicial commission headed by Justice Prashant Mishra submitted its report to Raj Bhawan (Governor House) and not to the chief secretary or the state government in 2021.

"Subsequently, the state government appointed a new chairman and a member in the same commission and expanded its term. But then Leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Dharamlal Kaushik secured a stay (from Supreme Court) on the probe with help of BJP Member of Parliament and advocate Mahesh Jethmalani," the CM claimed.

He alleged the blame on the attack was put on the "Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee" of the Maoists soon after the Modi government took over and the probe into the incident was terminated.

"The BJP has been constantly stalling the investigation. We have written to the Union Home minister and the NIA several times but the investigation has not progressed," the CM claimed. (PTI)