National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at three locations in Chatra district on Monday to probe extortion and money laundering by a naxal group. As per an official statement issued by the agency, several mobile phones, SIM cards etc. were seized after the searches. The searches were conducted at the premises of suspects and overground workers (OGWs) associated with top cadres of TSPC (Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee).
NIA investigating the extortion case
The searches were held by the agency as a part of the investigation in the case "relating to extortion, levy collection and money laundering by members of TSPC, a splinter group of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) terror organisation. The case was originally registered by the Tandwa police in January 2016 and the investigation was taken over by NIA in February 2018.
NIA has so far chargesheeted 21 accused persons in the case, while the probe is still underway.
NIA conducted searches in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh on Friday
NIA on Friday conducted searches at multiple locations in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to probe Naxal-related cases. Houses and other premises of suspects and over-ground workers (OGWs) were extensively searched by the officials. Several mobile phones and SIM cards in Giridih district of Jharkhand were seized.
The case is related to the arrest of Krishna Hansda, a Naxal cadre of the proscribed terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist). Handa, a regional committee member of the CPI(Maoist), was arrested from the Lucio forest area of Dumri police station in January 2023.
During the probe, NIA, which took over the case in June 2023, unearthed the links of several suspects and OGWs believed to be involved in supplying logistics and electronic items to the CPI(Maoist) in the Parasnath area of district Giridih.
Searches were conducted at multiple locations belonging to 11 suspects in the villages of Rawandiggi, Semra, Mainpur, Ghoragaon, Kerabahra and Gariyaband in the sensitive Maoist-infested areas of Gariyaband and Dhamtari districts.
"Investigation has established that the Mainpur-Nuapada division was behind the IED blast that killed a head constable of ITBP adhoc 615 battalion in the attack on the polling team and security personnel returning from village Badegobra after polling during the Assembly elections in November last year. The names of the suspects whose premises were searched today had surfaced during the NIA investigation in the case," the official statement said.
(With PTI inputs)
