Special NIA Court Sentences All 10 Convicts to Death for 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist Massacre

Public Lokpal
September 16, 2026

Thirteen years after a devastating ambush shook India’s political landscape, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Chhattisgarh sentenced all 10 convicts to death.

The tragic incident occurred on May 25, 2013, when heavily armed Maoists launched a brutal assault on a convoy carrying Congress leaders returning from a Parivartan Rally in Bastar’s Jhiram Valley.

The violent attack claimed 29 lives, effectively wiping out the core tier of the state’s Congress leadership.

Among those killed were prominent figures including state party chief Nand Kumar Patel, former Leader of the Opposition Mahendra Karma, and former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla.

Following a protracted legal trial involving nearly 300 hearings, the court pronounced the capital punishment for the accused—who include two women—marking a landmark closure to one of the deadliest chapters of left-wing extremism in the country.