Bilaspur: The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday upheld life sentences for four Maoists involved in a deadly 2014 ambush that claimed 18 lives, including 15 security personnel, in Dantewada district.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agarwal reinforced the earlier verdict by the Special Court in Jagdalpur.
The attack occurred on March 11, 2014, when heavily armed Maoists ambushed a road opening party near Tehkwara on National Highway 30 at around 10.30 am. The security force comprising CRPF's F Company of 80th Battalion and Tongpal Police Station personnel came under intense fire. The gunfight which lasted for an hour resulted in the deaths of 11 CRPF personnel, four state police officers, and three civilians.
The attackers, led by Maoist commanders Surendra, Deva, Vinod, and Sonadhar, also took away weapons including AK-47 rifles, grenade launchers, and various other firearms with ammunition. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case on March 21, 2014, and filed charges under multiple sections of the IPC and UAPA.
The convicted Maoists - Kawasi Joga, Dayaram Baghel alias Ramesh Anna, Maniram Korram alias Boti, and Mahadev Nag - appealed against their sentences. The Maoists claimed that they were poor tribal villagers and were wrongly implicated. They also challenged the reliability of prosecution witnesses, particularly former Maoists who had surrendered and joined the police force.
Rejecting these appeals, the High Court opined that the prosecution had presented compelling circumstantial evidence, including extra-judicial confessions, photographs, and seized weapons. The court also commented that the Maoist attacks on security forces as threats to national security and the democratic system, adding that conspiracy cases often rely on circumstantial evidence due to their covert nature.
