RAIPUR, Sept. 19 -- The 2013 Maoist attack on a convoy of Congress leaders that killed 27 people in Chhattisgarh's Jhiram Valley was a meticulously planned conspiracy executed after months of route surveys, cadre mobilisation, and mock rehearsals, according to the detailed judgment of a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur.

The court order, which sentenced the 10 surviving convicts to death, reconstructs the deadly assault using the NIA's investigation and testimonies from survivors, injured personnel, and eyewitnesses.

According to the September 16 verdict, which was uploaded to its website on Friday, the conspiracy was hatched about three months before the May 25, 2013 attack, at a meeting of the South Region...