Anti-Terror Agency Charges 4 Maoists In Five-Year-Old Bihar Murder Case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary chargesheet against four top leaders of the banned CPI(Maoist) involved in the murder of a civilian in Bihar five years ago, according to NIA release.

Naresh Singh Bhokta was kidnapped and murdered by members and cadres of the banned outfit in November 2018. The aim was to spread fear and terror while propagating the CPI (Maoist) anti-India ideology, it said.

The accused individuals charged on Saturday in the NIA Special Court, Patna (Bihar), under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UA(P)A) have been identified as Ram Prasad Yadav, Abhijit Yadav (known as Abhijit Ji), Abhyash Bhuiya (known as Prem Bhuiya), all hailing from Jharkhand, and Subedar Yadav from Bihar.

Each of them holds significant leadership positions within CPI (Maoist). Ram Prasad Yadav is a Sub-Zonal Commander, Abhijit Yadav and Subedar Yadav serve as Zonal Commanders, while Abhyash Bhuiya (Prem Bhuiya) operates as a Regional Commander within the banned organization, the release said.

Earlier, the NIA uncovered the involvement of senior CPI (Maoist) commanders, including Polit Bureau member Pramod Mishra, in the conspiracy behind this gruesome murder.

According to the NIA press release, over the course of the investigation, nine individuals were arrested, and supplementary chargesheets were previously filed against four of them in February and June of this year.

The NIA has successfully recovered the weapons used in the attack, which have undergone forensic examination. Additionally, the three vehicles employed by the CPI (Maoist) cadres during the attack have been located and seized.

The investigation has revealed that these individuals attended a meeting of the outfit's Zonal Commanders, Special Area Committee (SAC), and Regional Committee Members (RCM), convened by Pramod Mishra, who was then a Central Committee Member (CCM), in the forests of Anjanwa. During this gathering, a decision was made to eliminate Special Police Officers (SPOs), including Naresh Singh Bhokta.

The accused subsequently conspired to kidnap and murder Naresh Singh Bhokta with the intention of sowing fear and terror within society, specifically among common citizens. The entire conspiracy was designed to wage war against the Government of India, the release said.

Further investigations have established that Ram Prasad Yadav (Prasad Ji) and Subedar Yadav were involved in recruiting members for CPI (Maoist) to carry out terrorist acts.

Abhijit Yadav (Abhijit Yadav) primarily collected funds for the expansion of CPI (Maoist), while Abhyash Bhuiya (Prem Bhuiya) provided physical and armed training to the outfit's cadres, it said.

The NIA took over the case from the Bihar Police and registered it as RC-25/2022/NIA-DLI on June 24, 2022.

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