NIA attaches immovable property of self-styled Maoist commander

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached an Immovable property, a house, belonging to the absconding CPI (Maoist) self-styled regional commander Ravindra Ganjhu.

The NIA had attached the property in the case which pertains to the arrest of the leaders and cadres of proscribed terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist) and seizure of arms and ammunition.

According to the NIA, the operation took place under the jurisdiction of Peshrar police station, Lohardaga, Jharkhand.

During this operation, a gathering of CPI (Maoist) members, including the Regional Commander Ravinder Ganjhu, was detected in the forest area of Bulbul.

“It was revealed that this assembly of Maoist leaders and cadres, consisting of individuals, such as Balram Oraon, Muneshwar Ganjhu, Balak Ganjhu, Dinesh Nagesia, Aghnu Ganjhu, Lajim Ansari, Markush Nagesia, Sanjay Nagesia, Sheela Kherwar, Lalita Devi, and an estimated 45-60 additional cadres, had congregated with the intentions of carrying out incidents against security forces operating in the area, including the Bauxite Mines Area,” said a senior NIA officer.

Accordingly, a joint operation by the local Police and CRPF was conducted and during the search, active cadres of CPI (Maoist) had fired indiscriminately upon the security forces enroute Bahabar forest, at Harkatta Toli and Banglapat.

“Following the encounter, an extensive search of the area surrounding the incident site led to the discovery of a big cache of arms, ammunition, explosives, and other related items,” said the officer.

The original case was filed under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act 1908, the CLA Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UA(P) Act) against 17 accused individuals and unidentified armed cadres affiliated with the CPI (Maoist). The NIA subsequently re-registered the case as on June 14, 2022.

“Investigations in this case established that a house, located at Banjhitoli Jharkhand, had been illicitly constructed by Ganjhu. This house was built with the active involvement of his close associate and co-accused, Raju Kumar a.k.a Raju Sahu,” said the officer.

Investigations revealed that Ganjhu invested funds in the construction of this property, which were obtained through extortion and levy collection from local contractors and businessmen.

“The house has been attached by the NIA under the provisions of Section 25(1) of UA(P) Act, 1967,” said the officer.

Ganjhu was involved in several terrorist acts committed by the cadres of CPI (Maoist) and his extensive criminal involvement had led to the registration of more than 55 cases against him across various Police Stations in Jharkhand.

“The Jharkhand Government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have declared big rewards for his apprehension. A reward of 15 lakhs was announced by the Jharkhand Government, while the NIA has declared an additional reward of 5 lakh rupees,” the officer added.