New Delhi: Four CPI (Maoist) workers were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Chhattisgarh Army jawan murder case of 2023, an official said on Thursday.
The accused were identified as Bhawan Lal Jain alias Bhuwan Jain and his associate Suresh Kumar Salam, along with Shailendra Kumar Baghel alias Golu and Anduram Salam.
The four overground workers and supporters of the banned CPI (Maoist) terror outfit were directly involved in hatching the criminal conspiracy to kill Motiram Achala, as per NIA investigations.
The accused were actively aiding and abetting criminal and/unlawful activities of CPI (Maoist), including extortion to strike terror in the minds of the people.
Achala, posted as Havaldar in the Northeast region of the country, was brutally murdered at a local fair while on a visit to his home-town in village Badetevda in Uttar Bastar’s insurgency-hit Kanker district in February 2023.
The NIA, which took over the case from the Chhattisgarh police a year later, conducted extensive searches in the following months to track the culprits. Several incriminating documents and devices were seized during the searches.
On February 28, the NIA arrested Raghu Midiyami, leader of Moolwasi Bachao Manch (MBM), a top leader of a frontal organisation linked with the banned CPI (Maoist) terrorist outfit in a Chhattisgarh terror funding case.
The MBM is also banned by the Government of Chhattisgarh.
The Chhattisgarh Police had earlier, in November 2023, arrested and charge-sheeted two accused in the case which was taken over by NIA in February 2024.
The police had recovered Rs 6 lakh from the duo, identified as Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the MBM.
Subsequent investigations had revealed Midiyami to be the leader of MBM. The outfit has been engaged in collection, storage and disbursal of funds for CPI (Maoist), for furthering their anti-India agenda.
As per NIA investigations, Midiyami was the nodal person for distribution of the funds at the local level for staging and sustaining CPI (Maoist) led protests.
(IANS)
