Raipur, Sept. 6 -- A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur on Saturday convicted all 10 accused arrested in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack, in which 29 people, including several senior Congress leaders, were killed. The court reserved the order on the quantum of punishment for September 16. Special Judge Ajay Singh Rajput convicted the 10 accused, including two women, defence lawyer Arvind Choudhary said. During the trial, statements of 101 witnesses were recorded, the defence lawyer said. Eleven accused faced trial, but one died during the proceedings, he added. The convicted accused are Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam, Sumitra Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandavi, Kosa Kavasi, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna and Mahadev Nag. "We will appeal against the verdict in the High Court. We have not received a copy of the judgment yet. We will be able to give the grounds for appeal after receiving it," Choudhary said. The attack took place on May 25, 2013, when Maoists ambushed the Congress' Parivartan Rally on a national highway in Jhiram Valley in Bastar's Darbha area. Twenty-nine people, including Congress leaders, civilians and security personnel, were killed and more than 30 were injured. Those killed included then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma, former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla and senior Congress leader Uday Mudliyar. The attack virtually wiped out the Congress' top leadership at the time in the state ahead of the assembly elections that year. The state police initially registered a case, but the then BJP government handed the probe to the NIA within two days. The NIA filed a charge sheet against nine arrested accused in 2014 and a supplementary charge sheet against 30 accused in 2015. The verdict triggered a political row, with Congress saying the larger conspiracy behind the attack remained uninvestigated. Former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel termed the verdict "incomplete justice", saying that convicting 10 lower-level Maoists could not amount to justice when the alleged larger conspiracy had not been probed. "In such a case, sentencing only 10 lower-level Naxals cannot be called justice," Baghel said in a post on X. He said the NIA had stated that around 200 people were involved in the attack and had named 39 accused, but only 10 were eventually arrested and convicted. Baghel also referred to a second FIR registered by Chhattisgarh Police in 2020 on a complaint by Jitendra Mudliyar, son of slain Congress leader Uday Mudliyar, alleging a larger conspiracy. The Supreme Court had rejected the NIA's objection to the second FIR in November 2023, he said. State Congress president Deepak Baij also said the verdict was not justice for the victims, their families or Bastar, alleging that the attack was a political conspiracy to eliminate Congress leaders. The BJP, however, welcomed the verdict and defended the NIA probe. BJP chief spokesperson and MP Santosh Pandey said the conviction would help bring the truth before the public. "If you (Baghel) had evidence, why did you not present it before the court during your five-year government?" Pandey asked. Deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma also questioned why the Congress did not act on its allegations when it was in power. He said the NIA probe had been found to be correct by the court, pointing out that the investigation was handed over to the agency when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre and the BJP was ruling Chhattisgarh....