Bastar massacre: Court refuses to handover Jhiram conspiracy probe to NIA

RAIPUR: In a setback to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a court in Bastar in Chhattisgarh has rejected its application for taking over the probe into an FIR lodged by a Congress leader in which he alleged conspiracy into the deadly Maoist attack in Jhiram that had eliminated Chhattisgarh’s frontline Congress in May 2013.

Jitendra Mudaliyar, Congress leader and son of slain former legislator Uday Mudaliyar, had lodged an FIR on May 25 this year seeking to probe the conspiracy angle in the massacre in which his father was killed along with 28 others. However the NIA, which had earlier probed the May 2013 Maoist attack, moved the NIA court in Jagdalpur in June this year, praying that the FIR registered by the state police be transferred to the central agency.

The NIA court, a session’s court at Jagdapur in Bastar, on August 10 rejected the application and held that the case will be investigated by the state police. Indications are that the NIA will now move the high court to challenge the lower court order.