New Delhi, December 20
In a major breakthrough in the Pedka-Aranpur IED blast case in which 10 jawans were martyred and a civilian was killed in an ambush by CPI (Maoist) cadres in April 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested an absconding accused with the help of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Chhattisgarh Police.
Along with other arrested co-accused, Bandra Tati was directly involved in the terror attack conspiracy of the banned terrorist organisation. Besides transportation of IEDs, he was engaged in providing security/logistics support to the core module for execution of the fatal attack, NIA investigations in the case have revealed.
The attack took place around 1.20 p.m. on 26th April 2023 when Maoist cadres ambushed and attacked a Toofan vehicle used by the state’s District Reserve Guards (DRG) team, killing the driver and 10 jawans, near Pedka chowk in Aranpur.
Chhattisgarh police had chargesheeted 26 accused persons in the case last year. NIA, which took over the investigation in February 2024, is continuing with its probe to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the attack on security forces by cadres of CPI (Maoist).