NIA Court Gives Capital Punishment To All Ten Convicts In Jhiram Valley Case

The Special Court of the National Investigation Agency, NIA, in Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh, today sentenced all ten convicts in the Jhiram Valley case to death. Special Judge Ajay Singh Rajput pronounced the judgment. The convicts have been given thirty days to appeal against the verdict in the High Court.

It may be recalled that on the twenty-fifth of May, 2013, twenty-seven people, including several senior Congress leaders, were killed in a Maoist attack in Jhiram Valley under Darbha police station area of Bastar district in Chhattisgarh. Thirty-five others were injured in the attack.

Among those killed were former Leader of the Opposition and founder of the controversial Salwa Judum anti-Naxal civilian movement Mahendra Karma, then-state party chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla who later succumbed to gunshot wounds, and former MLA Uday Mudliyar. Several security personnel and civilians were also killed.

The NIA had registered an FIR against more than one hundred and fifty people in the case. Eleven Maoists were arrested. One accused died during the trial. The remaining ten accused were convicted by the NIA Special Court on the fifth of September. All ten convicts were sentenced to death today.(UPDATED ON 16TH SEPTEMBER 2026)