In Fact: Darbha attack facts and police claims on ‘mastermind’

Here’s what the NIA chargesheet says about Sonadhar.

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The first four times that Sonadhar is mentioned — in paragraphs 17.5 and 17.6 of the chargesheet — he, along with many other cadres (NIA names several of them) are said to have held “meetings” of Sangham members to “arrange eatables and other logistics for the Maoists”.

Mention No. 5 is in paragraph 17.16, where he is named as one of those who carried out a recce for the ambush. Several cadres are named, and Sonadhar’s name comes the last. The chargesheet says he was the juniormost.

The sixth time Sonadhar’s name figures, he is said to have led nearly 50 cadres and Jan Militias and “joined… over 100 hardcore Maoists armed with deadly weapons”, who had “established a temporary command centre… about 1 hour footmarch from the ambush point”.

The NIA has said later that these “hardcore Maoists” were there to carry out the attack. Sonadhar’s cadres and Jan Militia were mostly poorly-armed villagers whom the Maoists use for assistance.

In the seventh, eighth and ninth instances, Sonadhar is named by arrested accused Banjami Sanna, the president of the Dalit Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, who claims that he had attended “the meeting” called by Sonadhar “with domestic weapons”.

The 10th instance is in para 17.47 — it says that this group of villagers “armed with axe, dagger, bows and arrows”, led by Sonadhar, reached Jeeram valley on May 23, “where they joined the group of Maoists already camping there for ambush”.

The 11th and 12th instances, in para 17.49, elaborates Sanna’s statement that he had, in the past, “extorted” Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000 from villagers and local businessmen to give to Sonadhar. This petty extortion is not linked to the Darbha ambush, and is something the Maoists routinely do in the region.

The 13th and 14th mentions are in the context of claims made by two other arrested accused, Ayata Madkam and Mukka Mandavi, who claimed that they assisted “Sonadhar, Sumitra and many others in organising meetings and arranging logistics for this ambush”.

In the 15th instance, another arrested accused, Kawasi Kosa, claims that “he had assisted Mahadev Nag, Sonadhar and other Naxal commanders of the Darbha region in collection and transportation of logistics for the Maoists assembled Jheeram valley for the ambush”.

The 16th instance is in para 17.60: a statement by another arrested accused that Sonadhar and others “tasked their Jan Militia members to collect rice, utensils and other logistics for Naxal cadres”.

The 17th mention, in para 17.72, is about 25 bags of rice being delivered to Sonadhar.

On the 18th occasion that Sonadhar is mentioned — in para 18.11 — the NIA says that arrested accused whose statements have been recorded, “worked under command of Sonadhar”.

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Clearly, none of these 18 mentions even remotely establishes Sonadhar as the “mastermind” of the Darbha attack. According to the NIA’s investigation, he was a local leader in Darbha, who was asked by his bosses to help out with minor logistics to support the attackers camping in the region. There is nothing in the chargesheet to confirm that he had been privy to specific details of the plan. He was aware that an attack would take place, but given the extremely secretive style of the Maoists’ functioning, it is possible that he learnt about the actual targets much later.

In fact, the NIA names one Barse Sukka alias Deva of the Darbha Divisional Committee as the “overall Commander for carrying out this attack”. As per the NIA, the conspiracy was hatched in February in Pidia, Bijapur. While Darbha is in eastern Bastar, Bijapur is in the west of the district.

According to the NIA, the heavily armed attackers (over 30 of whom the chargesheet names), belonging to the “Military Company 2 of Maoists”, left Pidia under the leadership of Platoon Commander Hemala Massa. They met up with cadres of the 2nd Central Regional Command at an intermediate point before proceeding together towards Darbha. At Darbha, they were received by Surendra, Jailal and Deva, the seniormost Maoist commanders of the region. These leaders planned and led the attack, the NIA has said — while “logistical arrangements, ration, eatables for the cadres coming from other area had been made by the members of the Darbha Division with the assistance of local villagers”.

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The conjuring up of “masterminds” of Maoist attacks is fairly commonplace. After almost every attack, names start appearing in police statements and media reports. Several “masterminds” had been mentioned soon after the Darbha attack — even before the Chhattisgarh Police or the NIA had had a chance to carry out a proper investigation — quoting unnamed intelligence sources. Sonadhar, the current “mastermind”, was nowhere on that list.

ashutosh.bhardwaj@expressindia.com