NIA Chargesheets 23rd Accused in Jharkhand CPI(Maoist) Arms Seizure Case
Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday chargesheeted another accused in a CPI (Maoist) arrest and arms seizure case of Jharkhand.
Pradip Singh Chero, a resident of Jharkhand, is the 23rd accused to be chargesheeted in the case RC-02/2022/NIA/RNC. The Jharkhand police had originally chargesheeted nine persons, before NIA took over the investigations in June 2022 and filed five supplementary chargesheets between August 2023 and July 2024.
The NIA investigations have exposed the involvement of various CPI (Maoist) armed cadres and over ground supporters in the case. Chero has been chargesheeted under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and UA(P) Act as part of the conspiracy by the proscribed CPI (Maoist) to attack security forces in Jharkhand to avenge the arrest of their top commander Prashant Bose.
The attack had taken place in February 2023 in Lohardaga, Jharkhand. At that time, a large number of CPI (Maoist) cadres, led by Regional Commander Ravindra Ganjhu, had assembled in the forest area of Bulbul, Lohardaga, to hatch the conspiracy to attack the security forces. Ganjhu was joined by active CPI (Maoist) cadres Balram Oraon and Muneshwar Ganjhu, along with 45 to 60 others.
Security forces, comprising the state police and CRPF, had launched a joint search operation, during which they were attacked by armed CPI (Maoist) cadres, who opened indiscriminate firing. A subsequent combing operation had led to recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition.
