Chhattisgarh: Maoists Planned 2013 Jhiram Ghati Massacre Three Months in Advance, Says Court Order

Raipur: It took three months of planning - including reconnaissance, rehearsals, cadre mobilization, and logistical preparations- for the Maoists to execute the 2013 Jhiram Ghati massacre of Congress leaders, the recently delivered order by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has said.

The special NIA court while sentencing all ten convicted in the incident to death on Wednesday detailed how the deadly Naxal ambush on the Congress convoy was planned three months in advance by the Maoists before executing it with precision on May 25, 2013, killing 27 people (including 26 Congress leaders).

According to the court order, conspiracy was hatched at the South Regional Unified Command meeting of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) between February 16 and 25, 2013.

A special team headed by Barse Sukka alias Deva, then a member of Darbha Divisional Committee of CPI (Maoist), was constituted at the meeting for the operation, according to the court order.

Deva surrendered in Telangana recently.

According to the court order, command Centres were established by the Maoists for the execution of the plan.

The Maoists had also conducted recce in the Sukma-Jagdalpur road in Bastar and rehearsals in the forest before executing the plan.

The rehearsal was held in a forest near Ekkam-Chappal six to seven days before the attack.

Eight to nine kg of explosives were used and 206 bullets were fired at the Congress’ Parivartan Yatra convoy vehicles, according to the court order.

Local Naxal cadres including convicted accused Sumitra, Mahadev Nag, and Mukka Mandavi were assigned the task of preparing logistics and arranging food.

Around 25 sacks of rice, each weighing about 50 kg, were collected and stored at Nag’s house and later shifted to a temporary Maoist camp.

“On the nights of May 22 and 23, around 100-armed Maoists established temporary command centres on both sides of the road (at Jhiram Ghati)”, the 187-page order in Hindi, accessed by this newspaper, said.

The Parivartan Yatra of Congress left Sukma in south Bastar for Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar, around three pm on May 25, 2013 and came under attack by the Maoists at the Jhiram Ghati under Darbha block in Bastar district.

Explosives were used to stop the convoy.

The Maoist then opened fire on the vehicles, carrying Congress leaders, from top of a hill.

Around 206 bullets were fired into the vehicles.

A witness said that Maoists were searching for Mahendra Karma, the founder of the anti-Naxal civil vigilante force Salwa Judum, and Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee president Nand Kumar Patel and their relatives.

Karma, who was believed to be the prime target of the Maoists, identified himself and pleaded with the Maoists not to harm others.

The court order narrated how Karma was brutally killed by Maoists.

He was dragged to a hillside, shot at close range, and hit with stones. He was also stabbed even after his death, as medical witnesses suggested.

The Maoists also celebrated by his body.

Karma sustained 69 injuries on his body, according to NIA investigators.

This clearly suggests that the incident was pre-meditated and executed intentionally, the court order said.

As many as 26 Congress leaders and workers including Patel and his son Dinesh, Karma and former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla were killed in the incident.