Naxal kin extort money in Bihar

Family members and relatives of many top-ranking leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist), a Naxal outfit, are extorting large sums of money from people in north Bihar in the name of the organisation.

Family members and relatives of many top-ranking leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist), a Naxal outfit, are extorting large sums of money from people in north Bihar in the name of the organisation.

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The matter came to light after the recovery of pamphlets from several villages in the Purnahiya block of Naxalite-hit Sheohar district, about 250 km from Patna, recently. The hand-written pamphlets were pasted on the walls of government buildings and private houses.

They threatened the family members and relatives of leaders with dire consequences for their involvement in collecting money in the name of the organisation. “If you don’t mend your ways, we will be forced to take action against you at the jan adalats (people's courts),” one of the pamphlets read.

A senior police official said the north Bihar regional committee of the CPI (Maoist) had received complaints from the people that hefty sums of money were being collected from the people by family members and relatives of some incarcerated leaders.

The names of Chandra Shekhar Jha (father of Santosh Jha) and Devta Devi (wife of Gaurishankar Jha) reportedly figured in the pamphlets. Both Santosh and Gaurishankar belong to Dostiyan village of Sheohar district and played important roles in the spread of the CPI (Maoist) in the region. The family members of the two leaders, however, denied the charge.