Home Ministry Sets Up Multi-Disciplinary Group To Choke Naxal Funding, Seize Assets Of Senior Leaders

In a bid to curtail the left wing extremism in the country, the Home Ministry has set up a group comprising of officers from several security agencies and central government departments to check the funding of Naxalite groups and to seize the assets of their leaders, Economic Times has reported.

The said group consists of officials from the Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, NIA, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the CBI, as also state intelligence departments and CID.

The group will work towards checking the methods employed by the Naxalites to fund their activities like illegal levy on private contractors, small and medium industries, mining contractors and transporters working in the troubled areas.

The group will also focus on the Naxal leaders’ illegally garnered wealth after several reports that money from Naxal activities was being channeled to the personal coffers of the leaders.

The ED has registered cases against four such individuals who’ve come under spotlight after spending huge amounts of money for their personal use.

Pradyuman Sharma, a member of the CPI (Maoist) in Bihar-Jharkhand area, for example, had given Rs 22 lakh towards the fees of his niece in a private medical institute. Another member Sandeep Yadav, had similarly submitted Rs 15 lakh for exchange during demonetisation.

The ED has in total attached properties worth Rs 1.5 crore and 32 acres of land along with Rs 2.45 crore in cash from the four Maoist leaders, an official said.