RPN Singh, MoS for Home, on Wednesday, informed the Parliament that Naxals have been extorting money to the tune of Rs 140 crore annually from contractors, businessmen and corporate houses even as their front organisations are suspected to be receiving foreign funds clandestinely.
He also said that in addition to this extortion, Maoists also collect money from bank robbery, seizure of public and private assets in the affected region.
“Though an exact quantification of their finance is not possible, it has been assessed in a study conducted by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, Delhi, that the CPI-Maoist has been collecting not less than Rs 140 crore annually from a variety of sources,” Singh informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Wednesday. He said possibility of certain front organisations of CPI(Maoist) clandestinely getting foreign funds cannot be ruled out.