Following reports that the Maoists have been forcing poor villagers to deposit and exchange their black money earned though levy and other illegal means an alert have been raised by Jharkhand Police to keep a tab on such suspicious transactions. The Maoists are reportedly forcing people in the Naxal hit districts of Gumla, lohardaga and latehar to deposit small amounts in their accounts to be taken back after the things get normal.
“We have already taken steps in this regard alerting the Maoist affected districts to keep a tab on such transactions and try to know the source of the amount deposited by someone in his account which remained dry earlier,” said IG (Operations) and Jharkhand Police Spokesperson MS Bhatia. In addition to that, the intelligence agencies have also been roped in to inform the police beforehand if they get to know about such transactions, he added.
“All those accounts will be scrutinized which earlier remained dry and a sudden deposit was made in it after demonetization,” said Bhatia. Moreover, the Government has also taken steps to check such incidents by decreasing the cash deposit limit to Rs 50,000 till December 30 in an account, and decreasing exchange limit of notes of higher denominations to Rs 2000 from Rs 4500, said the IG.
latehar SP Anup Birtharey also said that the Maoists have got panicked following demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes and suspended their regular activities due to cash crunch.
“We are getting inputs from our intelligence networks that the Maoists have even postponed a high level meeting to be held here at Budha Pahar to be attended by top Maoist leader of Jharkhand and Bihar due to cash crunch. They are also having problem in meeting their two ends due demonetization as the villagers are not accepting Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes from them,” said Birthare.
Meanwhile, they were trying to get their black money consumed though traditional supporters like contractors and businesspersons in remote areas. “We have asked our men to be vigilant by keeping a tab on their activities; continuous raids were also being carried out at the houses of Maoist supporters to prevent any such activity, he said.
“Checking at Police pickets has also been intensified to prevent transfer of cash from one place to another,” he said. Referring to forceful deposit of money though villagers, the latehar SP said that all such accounts receiving abnormal deposits would be scrutinized later.
“We also have received information that Naxals are using villagers to deposit their extortion money into bank accounts so that it can be converted into legal currency,” said the SP.
Recently, the CRPF recovered Rs 25 lakh from two suspects of People’s liberation Front of India (PlFI), a breakaway faction of CPI (Maoist) from Bero near Ranchi. The two arrested suspects were said to have links to PlFI supremo Dinesh Gope.
According to reports, Naxas have amassed more than Rs 1,500 crore though organised extortion business in the form of levy. Many splinter groups like PlFI was said to be indulged in levy collection besides carrying out kidnapping, looting, and narcotics trade, said the police.