Raipur, Aug 12 (PTI) A court in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district has refused to hand over the probe of a fresh First Information Report (FIR) in the 2013 Jhiram valley naxal attack case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The new FIR is about the alleged conspiracy that led to the attack in which several Congress leaders were killed.

Also Read | Severe Waterlogging at Manekshaw Road Due to Rainfall in Delhi: Live Breaking News Headlines & Coronavirus Updates on August 13, 2020.

Special NIA court judge, Jagdalpur, D N Bhagat on August 10 rejected the NIA's application seeking a direction to the police to hand over documents related to the FIR lodged on May 26 to the agency, NIA lawyer Kishore Bhaduri said.

The judge stated in the order that under section 10 of the NIA Act, the state government has powers to investigate.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi Demands Withdrawal of EIA 2020 Draft, Tweets 'Nature Protects, if She is Protected'.

On May 25, 2013, Naxals attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Jhiram Valley in Bastar, killing 29 people including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former Union minister Vidyacharan Shukla.

The Bastar police registered the FIR and subsequently the NIA took over the probe. It filed a charge sheet in the special court in Jagdalpur in September 2014.

While the case is still pending before the court, on May 26 this year another FIR was registered at Darbha police station.

Complainant Jitendra Mudliyar, a Congress leader, sought probe of the "conspiracy" angle of the incident.

Mudaliyar's father Uday Mudaliyar was among those killed in the Jhiram attack.

The NIA on June 16 moved the special court, seeking that Bastar Superintendent of Police be asked not to probe the FIR but instead hand over documents to the central agency, said advocate Bhaduri.

"We argued in the court that there cannot be multiple FIRs for one offence as per the CrPC. The NIA has already investigated the case and filed a charge sheet," he said.

But the court held that the state had the power to investigate the new FIR.

Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said, "Bastar police told the NIA court that this case is different from the 2013 one. The new case is mainly about the conspiracy angle.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)