NIA charge sheet five Maoist operatives for involvement in Army man’s murder

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charged five members of the banned CPI (Maoist) for their alleged involvement in the murder of an Indian Army soldier in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district in 2023, officials said on Saturday (August 30, 2025).

The accused — Bhawan Lal Jain, Suresh Kumar Salam, Shailendra Kumar Baghel, Anduram Salam and Sonu Hemla — have been named in a supplementary charge sheet filed on Friday (August 29, 2025) before a special NIA court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, they said.

Motiram Achala, an Indian Army soldier, was shot by CPI (Maoist) cadres at a village fair in Useli while he was visiting his family in February 2023, an NIA statement said.

The NIA investigation revealed that Jain, Suresh Salam, Baghel and Anduram Salam were active overground workers (OGWs) of the CPI (Maoist), while Hemla was an armed cadre of the Kuyemari Area Committee of the outfit's North Bastar Division.

Along with another senior Maoist leader, they identified and killed Achala at the local bazar, the statement said.

NIA arrested all five accused in March in connection with the conspiracy, which was aimed at striking terror in the minds of the local people, it said.

In June, the NIA chargesheeted another accused, Ashu Korsa, in the case, which the agency took over from local police in February 2024.