NIA team to begin probe today into Chhattisgarh Naxal attack

An unidentified man stands near the crater created on the road after Saturday's Maoist land mine attack in a densely forested area in Bastar, about 345 kilometers (215 miles) south of Raipur, Chhattisgarh state, India, Sunday, May 26, 2013. Officials reacted with outrage Sunday to an audacious attack by about 200 suspected Maoist rebels who set off a roadside bomb and opened fire on a convoy carrying Indian ruling Congress party leaders and members in an eastern state, killing at least 24 people and wounding 37 others. (AP Photo

V A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) will today begin its probe into the Chhattisgarh attack on Congress leaders by Maoists which claimed 27 lives, including that of PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel.

Union Home Secretary R K Singh said an official order formally handing over the case to
NIA to carry out the investigation would be issued soon.

"We will issue the order of NIA probe. The NIA team will also go to Chhattisgarh today," he told reporters here.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had yesterday said that NIA will probe the Maoist attack on Congress leaders and the Centre has received a go-ahead from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for it.

Heavily-armed Maoists had on Saturday ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in the state's Bastar district, killing 27 people including PCC chief Patel, his son Dinesh, Congress leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar and injuring 32 others, including former Union Minister V C Shukla.

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