NIA arrests 2 suspects in 2019 Tiriya encounter case

New Delhi, June 20 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said it has arrested two individuals, including a woman, who allegedly participated in the 2019 attack on security forces by CPI (Maoist) operatives near Tiriya village in Chhattisgarh.

In the incident, known as the Tiriya encounter case, six Maoists and one civilian were killed. The NIA took over the case in 2021, along with several other cases related to Maoist conspiracies to carry out acts of terror and violence in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

"The NIA apprehended the duo on Sunday after conducting extensive investigations in the case (also known as the RK Dairy case). So far, four suspects have been arrested in connection with the case," stated an official.

NIA investigations revealed that both individuals arrested on June 18, 2023, were closely associated with the top leadership of the CPI (Maoist) in furtherance of their "anti-national" activities.

The agency had previously discovered various incriminating materials related to the activities of CPI (Maoist) members during searches conducted at the residences of the two suspects.

One of the arrested individuals has been identified as B.Ch. Padma, also known as Modem Padma or Lalita. She previously held the position of Divisional Committee Member of CPI (Maoist) and currently acts as a coordinator between front organizations and the CPI (Maoist), as well as spreading the ideology of CPI (Maoist).

The other individual, Dubasi Devender, has close associations with CPI (Maoist) members operating in the core area. He was also serving as a courier for the CPI (Maoist), secretly transporting their communications (both paper-based and digital) and facilitating their anti-national activities.

The encounter occurred in July 2019 when a joint team of local District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) traveled to the forest area near Tiriya in the PS Nagarnar area of Jagdalpur District in Chhattisgarh. The security forces had received intelligence that a group of Maoist cadres had gathered with the intention of carrying out a significant incident on July 28, which is observed as Shaheed Diwas.

Following the encounter, the security forces recovered arms, ammunition, as well as several incriminating handwritten documents and literature from the site.