Raipur
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against 17 Maoists before the NIA Special Court in Jagdalpur in connection with the attack on a CRPF camp. One of the arrested Maoists has been identified as Sodi Baman alias Deval.
Apart from Sodi Baman alias Deval, the remaining 16 absconding Maoists named in the NIA’s charge sheet include two Central Committee Members (CCMs), two Special Zonal/State Committee Members (SZC/SCM), and other top cadres of PLGA BN No. 01, Telangana State Committee, and Pamed Area Committee.
Charges have been filed against these Maoists under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The case relates to the attack on the new CRPF camp at Dharamavaram in Bijapur district and two nearby CRPF/CoBRA camps in Chintawagu and Pamed on January 16, 2024. The attackers attempted to loot weapons and other equipment from the security forces’ camps. Earlier, on December 17, 2023, 12 CRPF jawans were injured in an attack on the Dharamavaram CRPF camp.
The NIA took over the case from local police on February 9, 2024, and registered a case against 21 named and 250-300 unknown armed cadres of the banned terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist). Investigation revealed that the accused in the charge sheet were involved in recruiting youth as part of a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India. They possessed prohibited weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials, and organised and participated in conspiracy meetings.
The Maoists had also set up a training dummy camp as a replica of the target camp, trained their armed cadres to carry out armed rebellion, and delivered motivational speeches. Additionally, they conducted reconnaissance of the camps and executed the final attacks. Further investigation in the case is ongoing.
