Chhattisgarh High Court finally turned down the request of transferring the new FIR in the Jhiram Ghati massacre case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The agency had investigated the Jhiram Ghati massacre case earlier.
A division bench of Bilaspur High Court comprising Justice RCS Samant and Justice Arvind Singh Chandel which heard the NIA petition after listening to the arguments from both sides petitioner and defence passed an order on Wednesday in this regard and refused to interfere in the case.
The decision of the High Court has paved the way for further investigation in the Jhiram massacre case. Congress has continuously alleged political conspiracy behind the brutal mass killing of Congress leaders in the Jhiram Naxal attack.
In the context, after NIA closed the investigation in the case, Jitendra Mudliyar son of slain Congress leader Uday Mudliyar registered an FIR in Darbha Police Station of Bastar district in 2020, demanding a proper investigation in the Jhiram massacre case saying that the attack on the Congress convoy was pre-planned and a part of a larger political conspiracy which was not investigated by NIA.
Responding to the new FIR, the NIA had moved an application on June 16 in Jagdalpur NIA court seeking handing over of the case registered by Mudaliyar to NIA for further investigation. The division heard the arguments of the Chhattisgarh government, NIA and the Congress leader in the new FIR in the Jhiram Ghati case.
On February 9, 2022, the division bench reserved its judgment in the petition filed by the NIA that challenged the order of Jagdalpur NIA Court connection with handing over the case registered on the FIR lodged by a Congress leader in Bastar in the alleged conspiracy behind the Jhiram Ghati Naxal attack.
While speaking to FPJ, legal counsel of advocate Sudip Shrivastava, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Jitendra Mudliyar, said that the High Court refused to interfere in the case. The decision of the High Court has empowered the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Chhattisgarh Police to investigate the case further and find out the truth behind the conspiracy of the Jhiram Naxal attack.
Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appeared on behalf of the Government of India in the case while Additional Advocate General Sunil Otwani appeared on behalf of the Chhattisgarh government in the case.
After the High Court’s order, the NIA will move to the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court’s order. Sudip Shrivastava asked the Chhattisgarh government to file a caveat in the Apex Court of India in the case.
Earlier, the NIA court in Jagdalpur also had declined to hand over the new FIR to the NIA and had ruled that the case can be investigated by the state police.
Notably, 27 people, veteran Congress leaders including then Congress State president Nand Kumar Patel, Mahendra Karma, Dinesh Patel and VC Shukla were brutally killed in the Naxal attack in 2013 when a group of more than 150 armed Maoists attacked the Congress convoy.
On May 26, 2013, the NIA started probing the Jhiram Ghati massacre case.
