RAIPUR: The special NIA Court in Jagdalpur, concluding a 13-year judicial trial, sentenced all 10 convicts to death (capital punishment) on Wednesday in the audacious 2013 Jhiram Ghati (Bastar) Maoist attack.
The court of Special Judge Ajay Singh Rajput had previously convicted all 10 individuals under stringent legal provisions on September 5, reserving the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence for September 16.
The NIA took over the probe shortly after the 2013 attack, filing charge-sheets and supplementary charge-sheets against the accused.
Over the extended trial, the prosecution examined extensive forensic evidence and presented numerous witnesses before securing convictions in one of India’s most politically catastrophic terror strikes, earlier this month.
The 10 individuals were convicted for orchestrating and executing the bloodshed and hailed from the Bastar region.
The convicts have been granted 30 days to challenge the verdict before the High Court. As capital punishment requires statutory confirmation by the High Court, the legal proceedings will now move to the appellate stage, legal experts elucidated.
All the accused are presently lodged in Jagdalpur Central Jail, Bastar. While 11 accused were originally put on trial, one died during the proceedings.
On May 25, 2013, ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, a convoy of the Congress Party's ‘Parivartan Yatra’ returning from a massive rally in Sukma was ambushed by heavily armed Maoists in the dense, winding forests of Jhiram valley between Darbha and Tongpal.
The court recorded testimonies from 101 witnesses before closing final arguments. A total of 33 named accused were reported as absconding.
The ruthless ambush wiped out virtually the entire top-tier leadership of the state Congress.
Among the 31 people killed were then-Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh Patel, former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla (who succumbed to severe bullet wounds during treatment), senior Congress leader and Salwa Judum architect Mahendra Karma, and former MLA Uday Mudliyar, alongside several security personnel and party workers. Another 38 individuals sustained grievous injuries.
At the time of the strike, the BJP was in power, led by Chief Minister Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh. The NIA filed its initial charge sheet on September 25, 2014, against 9 arrested accused. A supplementary charge sheet naming 35 accused was submitted on September 28, 2015, following the arrest of two more suspects.
Jhiram Ghati Attack: Case Timeline
May 25, 2013: Maoists ambush Congress’ Parivartan Yatra at Jhiram valley
BJP government led by Raman Singh constituted a Judicial Commission headed by sitting High Court judge Prashant Mishra in 2013. The panel submitted its report to former Governor Anusuiya Uike in May 2022.
Besides the Judicial Commission constituted by the BJP government, the Chhattisgarh police lodged an FIR in 2013 and began a probe, which was later handed over to the NIA.
Sep 25, 2014: NIA filed its initial charge-sheet against 9
Sep 28, 2015: NIA’s supplementary charge-sheet naming 35 accused
Congress, after coming to power in 2018, constitutedan SIT and demanded that the NIA’s report be given to it for further inquiry, but it was refused
On May 25, 2020: The SIT registered a fresh FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) against unknown persons at Darbha (Bastar)
Congress government in 2021 later reconstituted the Judicial Commission led by retired judge Justice Satish K Agnihotri as Chairperson and Justice G Minhajuddin as Member, expanding the scope of its inquiry.
Four different investigations so far ordered into the Jhiram Maoist attack
The NIA court recorded testimonies from 101 witnesses
Out of the 11 arrested accused who faced trial, one passed away
Sep 5, 2026: NIA court convicted 10
Sep 16, 2026: NIA court awards capital punishment to 10