NEW DELHI: The proceeds of crime are being used by Maoist leaders, who are operating in the Magadh zone of Bihar, for funding medical education their kin, the anti-terror federal probe agency NIA finds this in its probe.
As part of its probe into a case relating to revival of CPI(Maoist) activities in the Magadh zone of Bihar, the NIA has seized money, amounting to over Rs. 1 crore as proceeds of crime and in its investigation it has found that the amount was used to fund MBBS course of kin of a senior Maoist leaders in the guise of loan, officials said.
According to the NIA investigation, these funds were extorted from contractors and others in Bihar and Jharkhand, which were used to finance the medical studies of a relative of some of the accused in the case, the officials said.
A senior NIA official said, “The money, amounting to Rs. 1,13,70,500 (Rupees One Crore, Thirteen Lakh, Seventy Thousand, Five Hundred), has been seized under section 25(1) of UA(P) Act in the case, registered suo moto by NIA on December 30, 2021.”
The official further revealed that the said amount “had directly been transferred to the bank account of a Medical College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu for the MBBS course of a relative of a senior Maoist leader.” The transfer was done through bank accounts of close relatives of the accused persons, under the garb of a loan amount, he alleged.
“The beneficiary of the funds extorted by CPI Maoist, is the niece of accused and Special Area Committee member of CPI Maoist Pradyuman Sharma, who has been named in the FIR and a charge sheet has been filed against him in the case. The beneficiary is also sister of arrested accused Tarun Kumar, and cousin of another arrested accused Abhinav @ Gaurav @ Bittu. Both of them have also been named in the charge sheet,” the official said.
The NIA on January 20, 2023, had filed a charge sheet before a Special Court in Ranchi against two accused persons under various sections of IPC and UA (P) Act. In June last year, it had filed its first supplementary charge sheet in the case against one more accused, followed by a second supplementary charge sheet against two others in December 2023.