A join team of the Gariaband District Police and CRPF have seized cash amounting to Rs 8 lakh from an encounter site after a gun battle with Maoists on Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, Inspector General of Police (IGP) (Raipur range) GP Singh informed here on Monday.
This is probably for the first time such a huge amount of cash had been seized from an encounter site following a gun battle with Maoists in restive Gariaband district.
The cash was allegedly collected from Tendupatta contractors in Gariaband district, Singh said.
“We had specific intelligence inputs that Naxals of Dharambanda Dalam active in Odisha were going to receive hefty cash amount in the jungles of Surangpani close to Odisha border in Gariband district,” the IGP said while addressing a press conference at his office here.
The Maoists had collected the money from merchants particularly Tendupatta businessmen by putting them under duress, he said.
A Police team had exchange of fire with Naxals in a forested patch near Surangpani village which is around 30-32 kms away from Gariaband district headquarters, he mentioned.
“Naxals who could not withstand fire from the police team fled while leaving cash amounting to Rs 8 lakh at the spot that was seized later,” Singh told reporters.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Gariaband, Amit Kamble was supervising the team consisting of District Police and CRPF personnel which had engaged in gun battle, he added.
According to the IGP, police had information about the extortions being carried out by Maoists in Gariaband and accordingly it had deployed various police teams to nab them. Various Police teams were camping in the jungle for past seven days or more.
He claimed that Gariaband district had been freed from Maoist menace and these kinds of activities were being executed by Maoists from neighboring states.