The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 17 Maoists in a special court in Jagdalpur, concerning the attack on a CRPF camp in Bijapur district. This action pertains to the coordinated attacks on CRPF and Cobra camps at Dharmavaram, Chintawagu, and Pameda on January 16, 2024. One Maoist has been arrested in connection with the case.
According to the chargesheet, the arrested Maoist has been identified as Sodi Baman, also known as Deval. The other 16 accused Maoists remain at large. They include 2 Central Committee members, 2 state-level senior leaders, and several top cadres from the Telangana State Committee, Pameda Area Committee, and PLGA Battalion No. 01.
The charges against the Maoists include violations of the IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, and UAPA. The case relates to the attack on a new CRPF camp in Dharmavaram, Bijapur district, and two adjacent CRPF/Cobra camps in Chintawagu and Pameda on January 16, 2024. The attackers had attempted to loot weapons and other supplies from the camps. Prior to this, on December 17, 2023, 12 CRPF personnel were injured in an attack on the Dharmavaram CRPF camp, which had been established on that date.
The NIA took over the case from the local police on February 9, 2024, registering a case against 21 named and 250-300 unidentified armed cadres of the banned terrorist organization CPI (Maoist). The investigation revealed that the accused were involved in recruiting youths under a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India. They possessed prohibited weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials, and they organized and participated in conspiracy meetings.
The Maoists also established a training dummy camp as a replica of the target camp, trained their armed cadres to carry out armed rebellion, delivered motivational speeches, conducted reconnaissance of the camps, and carried out the final attacks. Further investigation into the matter is ongoing.
