# NIA court sentences all 10 Jhiram Valley convicts to death 2026-09-16T18:37:07+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets A special NIA court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, on Wednesday sentenced all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack to death. 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, were killed in the ambush on the Congress's 'Parivartan Rally' convoy on May 25, 2013. Special judge Ajay Singh Rajput convicted the 10 accused on September 5 and reserved the punishment order. The convicts include two women and were found guilty under the IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and UAPA. Defence lawyer Arvind Choudhary said they will challenge the verdict in the high court. The NIA examined 101 prosecution witnesses during the trial. The attack saw Maoists use an IED blast and gunfire, killing 24 on the spot, three more died later. The Congress has long alleged the larger conspiracy behind the attack was not properly investigated by the NIA. In 2020, a fresh FIR was registered over that allegation, and the Supreme Court declined to transfer that probe to the NIA. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Coverage of the death sentence is uniform: all three outlets report the NIA court verdict and the defence plan to appeal. The Deccan Herald alone includes the full context of the Congress’s ongoing allegation that the NIA probe was incomplete and the separate SIT and FIR the party pursued when in power. Hindustan Times gives that political dispute briefer space, quoting the state Congress chief calling the verdict “half justice”. Times Now omits it entirely. The balanced reading is that the trial has closed for these 10 convicts, but the political controversy over a wider conspiracy, and the Congress charge that senior Maoist leaders were not prosecuted, remains unresolved. The Supreme Court’s refusal to transfer the parallel FIR to the NIA is the concrete fact to watch. ## Coverage - deccanherald.com (neutral report) Led with the death sentence, included the Congress allegation of incomplete investigation and the separate SIT probe - timesnownews.com (neutral report) Straight factual report of the verdict, no political context from the Congress side - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Reported verdict and included Congress criticism but gave it less prominence than Deccan Herald Tags: Chhattisgarh, Congress, Jhiram Valley, Maoist attack, NIA Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/all-10-convicts-get-death-in-2013-jhiram-valley-maoist-attack/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/all-10-convicts-get-death-in-2013-jhiram-valley-maoist-attack/#story-in-brief