Chhattisgarh: 4 more Maoists charge sheeted by NIA in Gopniya Sainik murder

New Delhi, Jan 3 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday charge sheeted four more CPI (Maoist) cadres in connection with the murder of a ‘Gopniya Sainik’ of the Bijapur district police in Chhattisgarh.

The four accused, identified as Raju Kursam, Sukku Kursam, Shankar Kursam and Mannu Kursam, have been charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, said a statement.

This takes the total number of accused chargesheeted in the case to eight, with NIA having indicted four others earlier. All eight have been arrested in the case RC-14/2024/ NIA/RPR.

The victim, Chotu alias Kishan Kursam, was killed by members of the banned CPI (Maoist) terrorist organisation in December 2023 to instil fear and terror amongst the surrendered cadres and local populace.

Chotu, previously a CPI (Maoist) member, had surrendered to the Bijapur police and joined the societal mainstream as their ‘Gopniya Sainik’.

Angry at the spate of such ‘defections’, the CPI (Maoist) cadres in the region had warned surrendered cadres to rejoin and had conspired to eliminate those who had refused to rejoin the organisation and continued to work for the police.

The NIA, which took over the case in March 2024, is continuing with its investigation.

In a separate case, the NIA on Thursday chargesheeted three more accused in the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalisation case linked with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba terror organisation.

In its second supplementary chargesheet, the agency has named Anees Fathima, Chan Pasha A and Dr Nagaraj S under various sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Karnataka Prisons Act.

NIA, which took over the case from the local police in October 2023, had earlier chargesheeted nine accused, including absconder Junaid Ahmed.

The case, originally registered by the Bengaluru City police in July 2023, related to the recovery of arms, ammunition and digital devices from habitual offenders who had planned to unleash terror in the city with the intent of disrupting India’s sovereignty and security.

The activities, aimed at promoting the LeT’s interests, were part of a larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of T Naseer, a life convict in several terror cases, en route from the prison to the court. Naseer was an under-trial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast cases at the time.

--IANS

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