NIA Court Sentences 10 to Death in 2013 Jhiram Ghati Maoist Attack

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur, Bastar district, on Wednesday sentenced 10 Maoists to death after convicting them in the 2013 Jhiram Ghati attack, which killed at least 27 people and left 38 injured.

NIA judge Ajay Singh Rajput found the accused guilty under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The death penalty was handed down for criminal conspiracy under Section 120B and murder under Section 302 of the IPC.

The convicted are Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam alias Munna, Sumita alias Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandvi, Kosa Kavasi alias Kosaram, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna alias Chamru and Mahadev Nag. An 11th accused died during trial, while 28 others named in the chargesheet remain wanted.

Among those listed as wanted are Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, a CPI (Maoist) politburo member who surrendered in Telangana in February this year; Barse Deva, who succeeded Madvi Hidma as commander of the PLGA Battalion 1 and surrendered in January; and Ganesh Uikey, a central committee member killed in an encounter in Odisha in December 2025.

The attack took place on May 25, 2013, when more than 150 Maoists ambushed a Congress Parivartan Rally convoy near the Bastar-Sukma inter-district border. Those killed included Mahendra Karma, founder of the banned anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum; state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh; and former MLA Uday Mudliyar. Ten security personnel were among the dead.

Investigators said the ambush was primarily aimed at Karma and was planned as part of the banned CPI (Maoist)'s Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign. According to the NIA chargesheet, Maoist commanders met in early 2013 and conspired to target "class enemies", with Karma as the specific focus.

During the attack, the Maoists detonated a landmine beneath a red Bolero, leaving a five-foot-deep crater, and blocked the road with a stalled truck. From surrounding hilltops they fired indiscriminately and threw grenades at the trapped 20-vehicle convoy for nearly two hours. Police records show the attackers looted a 9 mm pistol with two magazines and 20 rounds, two AK-47 rifles with 14 magazines and 455 rounds, 10 hand grenades and communication sets.

The NIA took over the investigation two days after the attack. It filed a chargesheet against nine arrested accused on September 25, 2014, and a supplementary chargesheet against 30 more on September 28, 2015. Eleven people were arrested in the case, one of whom died during trial.

The trial spanned more than a decade and involved at least 294 hearings. After final arguments concluded this month, the court delivered its judgment on September 5, followed by the quantum of punishment on Wednesday.