PATNA: A day after Rs 25 lakh in cash belonging to a Maoist leader in Jharkhand was seized, police across Bihar and Jharkhand on Friday started keeping a close watch on the movement and deposit of large sums of money.
In particular, the Jan Dhan accounts of ordinary citizens in areas under the influence of Maoists are being monitored in case they are used by the Maoists to launder their large bills. “We have received tip-offs about Maoists trying to turn their huge sums of black money into white by novel methods. There are reports that cash kept buried underground is being dug out,” said M S Bhatia, inspector-general (operations) Jharkhand police.
Demonetisation of big currency notes is expected to crush the economy of the Maoists, which is based entirely on black money. On Thursday, a petrol pump owner was arrested in Bero on the outskirts of Ranchi while trying to deposit Rs 25 lakh in a bank. He reportedly confessed that the cash belonged to Dinesh Gope, a leader of the banned People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter Maoist group active in parts of Jharkhand and southern Bihar.