Killing of army jawan in Chattisgarh in 2023: NIA arrests four suspected Maoist workers

New Delhi: The NIA has arrested four people with Maoist links in connection with the killing of an army jawan in 2023 in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, officials said Thursday.

In February 2023, Motiram Achala was brutally killed during a village fair in Badetevda village in Uttar Bastar's insurgency-hit Kanker district when he visited his home from his posting in the northeastern region of the country, the NIA said.

The agency arrested workers of banned CPI (Maoist) - Bhawan Lal Jain alias Bhuwan Jain and his associate Suresh Kumar Salam, along with Shailendra Kumar Baghel and Anduram Salam.

"The four overground workers (OGWs) and supporters of the banned CPI (Maoist) terror outfit were directly involved in hatching the criminal conspiracy to kill Motiram Achala, as per NIA investigations. The accused were actively aiding and abetting criminal/unlawful activities of CPI (Maoist), including extortion to strike terror in the minds of the people," NIA's spokesperson said in a statement.

"NIA, which took over the case from the Chhattisgarh police a year later, conducted extensive searches in the following months to track the culprits. Several incriminating documents and devices were seized during the searches," it said.