Four suspects are accused of participating in the heinous murder committed by Naxals in Bihar in 2018 after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted a supplemental chargesheet against them. A regional commander of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) as well as two zonal commanders and a sub-zonal commander were among those named in the chargesheet, according to the agency.
Naresh Singh Bhokta was a civilian who was killed, and the agency submitted the chargesheet on Friday. In November 2018, members of the outlawed group kidnapped him and brutally murdered him. Nine people were arrested after a probe by the NIA, which had taken over the case from the Bihar Police. In February and June of this year, the anti-terror agency submitted further chargesheets against four people.
Following the arrest of the accused, NIA said it had unearthed “involvement of top CPI (Maoist) commanders or Naxals, including a politburo member namely Pramod Mishra, in the conspiracy to commit this brutal murder, aimed at spreading fear and terror while propagating the CPI (Maoist) anti-India ideology.”
NIA has also recovered the weapons used in the attack and three vehicles used by the CPI (Maoist) cadres in the attack have also been seized.
The accused were chargesheeted in the NIA Special Court, Patna, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Those chargesheeted have been identified as Ram Prasad Yadav, Abhijit Yadav alias Abhijit, and Abhyash Bhuiya alias Prem Bhuiya of Jharkhand, and Subedar Yadav of Bihar. All of them are senior leaders of CPI (Maoist).
As per the NIA, Ram Prasad Yadav is a sub-zonal commander, Abhijit Yadav and Subedar Yadav are zonal commanders, while Abhyash Bhuiya alias Prem Bhuiya is a regional commander of the banned organisation.
“Investigations have revealed that they had all attended the outfit’s meeting of zonal commanders, SAC and RCM, convened by accused Pramod Mishra (then CCM), in the forest of Anjanwa. It was during this meeting that it was decided to eliminate the SPOs, including Naresh Singh Bhokta,” NIA said.
“The accused then conspired to commit the abduction and murder of Naresh Singh Bhokta to strike terror among the people and a section of the society by killing common people. The entire conspiracy was aimed at waging a war against the Government of India,” the agency said.
Investigations established that Ram Prasad Yadav and Subedar Yadav were involved in recruiting members to CPI (Maoist) for committing terrorist acts. NIA said, adding that Abhijit Yadav was involved mainly in collecting funds for the expansion of CPI (Maoist) and Abhyash Bhuiya provided physical and armed training to the cadres of outfit.