Loot and scoot: How Jharkhand's Maoists groups are ridden with corruption

The information came in late but the source was good and the target too big to lose. On August 30, a police informant reported seeing two Telugu speaking men leaving the Garu forest area in Gumla district heading towards Ranchi. The input was passed on to the Ranchi police and a crack team was hurriedly assembled. Technical surveillance and matching descriptions helped the police spot the two men as they headed towards the city railway station.

When the cops stopped them, the two men spoke only in Telugu, feigning not to understand a word in Hindi or English. A search revealed they were carrying Rs 25.15 lakh in new currency notes, and over half a kilo of gold biscuits worth around Rs 12 lakh. More than the amount recovered, it was their identity which made the arrests a breakthrough for the Jharkhand police. One of them was B. Narayan, younger brother of Sudhakar, the man who leads the Maoists in Jharkhand. The other, Satyanarayan Reddy, was a key business associate of the fugitive Maoist. Even more interesting, the duo confessed to have been given the cash by Sudhakar himself, they were to invest the money in real estate projects in Vijayawada.

The Maoist commander was apparently stealing from his party. And it wasn't the first time. Reddy has confessed to investing crores of rupees on Sudhakar's behalf in real estate projects in and around their native states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The Maoists are fighting with their backs to the wall in the 10 Indian states that they still operate. In recent years, they have suffered unprecedented losses of territory and cadre to the security forces. Last year, 222 Maoists were killed in encounters, the highest loss for the insurgents since 2006. Over 2,000 cadre have surrendered in the past two years. Violent incidents have halved, from 2,204 in 2010 to 1,048 last year.

"The twin strategy of a development push in Maoist-hit areas backed by a chokehold on their operations has yielded results," says Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey. "In the last two years, good governance and incisive policing together have won the confidence of the villagers. The villagers no longer want to join them, which is why the Maoists are running out of foot soldiers," says the DGP.

After Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand is the state where they have the largest presence. But their levy collection network is already under threat here. Latest police assessments say the CPI (Maoists) are collecting just above Rs 40 crore a year as levy from the state today. The amount was over Rs 100 crore till 2015. And it's not just because they are being squeezed in areas of their influence. Various splinter groups, who work independently and against the Maoists, are now cornering a larger chunk of the extortion proceeds.

Noted tribal activist Dayamani Barla says Jharkhand's poor villagers are caught between the government and the Maoists. "The government wants to snatch their land for the industrialists, and the Maoists, for all their pro-poor ideology, are now hobnobbing with the rich to earn extortion money," she says.

The interrogation of surrendered Maoists have revealed that the sole focus of many commanders is on collecting levies and using it for personal purposes. Among the arrests over the last year, there were at least 12 senior leaders who have been thinking of a rich life beyond the jungles. Security forces have seized cash, properties and assets worth Rs 10 crore from them. But it is the case of Sudhakar which has mystified security forces as the top level Telugu leadership are generally seen as ideologically committed.

Sudhakar, 50, a member of the CPI (Maoist) central committee, is among the top rung of decision makers in the guerrilla group. Ironically, he was sent to Jharkhand (in December 2015) to stem the rot and regroup after a spate of encounters and surrenders. Operating from the Jaigiri forest in Latehar district and Garu forest zone in Gumla, Sudhakar is known by several aliases, Satwaji, Oggu Buriyari, Sharad and Kiran. He 'controls' the districts of Palamu, Garhwa, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla and Simdega, collectively called Koyal Sankh Zone, the only Maoist bastion left in Jharkhand.

Sudhakar stays with wife Madhavi (alias Nilima), also a top Maoist leader and a member of the Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee. Police officials believe Madhavi keeps records of the levies in her laptop. Satyanarayan Reddy's interrogation apparently revealed that Sudhakar has invested a huge amount through a registered company (name withheld on police request). It was Reddy's third trip to Jharkhand. He visited Jharkhand in December 2016, a month after demonetisation, to collect the invalid notes from Sudhakar. The amount, believed to be over Rs 25 lakh, was pumped back into the system using multiple bank accounts. Madhavi too accompanied Reddy to Hyderabad where she was admitted in a premier hospital. She was discharged a day later and spent a few days at Reddy's home. The politburo reportedly was given a fake hospital bill of Rs 8 lakh.

Police believe there was a reason the couple were stashing cash away. Sudhakar, they say, had initiated a back channel dialogue with the Telangana police. "Reddy had been negotiating to arrange a safe surrender for the couple. However, the recent arrests and evidence of his corruption may disrupt his plans," said a top IPS officer in Jharkhand. A man with political ambitions, what Sudhakar wants from the cops is a "safe bailout". The Telangana cops may have been ready to oblige him earlier, but it will be difficult now, as central agencies like the IT department and Enforcement Directorate are looking into the money laundering angle now.

Preliminary findings have established names of three people, all of them from Telangana, who made investments on Sudhakar's behalf. They include Raja Reddy from Mehdipatnam, a major suburb of Hyderabad, Jubair and Santosh Lingam from Mancherial and Jeevan Sandeep from Malkangiri.

Sudhakar and his wife may not be the only ones siphoning off Maoist funds. A confidential dossier with Jharkhand police has minute details about how senior leaders have been buying real estate, even sending their children to posh schools. The police say they have evidence of CPI Maoist commanders, Vijay Yadav, alias Sandeep, and Praduman Sharma, each carrying a Rs 25 lakh reward on their head in Jharkhand, amassing property worth crores, of their children or kin studying in elite schools/ colleges etc. The two Maoists have property worth at least Rs 5 crore each.

Praduman, still unmarried, allegedly paid Rs 22 lakh this year as capitation fee to secure admission for his niece in Chettinad Medical College at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. The sum was transferred by one Virendra Kumar and a fake company through RTGS. He is also apparently the sponsor for his two nephews who are in Calcutta preparing for their medical entrance examinations. Jehanabad resident Praduman is the operational incharge of Magadh zone of the same area committee. He is wanted in 51 cases in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Vijay Yadav alias Sandeep, operations in-charge of the middle zone of the Bihar-Jharkhand central area committee, is wanted in 88 cases in Bihar and over 50 in Jharkhand. Vijay's elder son studies BBA at BIT-Mesra (Patna) while the younger one is a Class XII (commerce) student at St Xavier's School in Ranchi. The younger son stays with Sandeep's wife Rajbanti Devi, a primary school teacher, in Samlong in Ranchi. The police say they have so far tracked property worth Rs 1 crore to her. The Enforcement Directorate has also been informed for further action.

State additional DGP (operations) R.K. Mallick says, "The Maoist leadership have always lived a double life, keeping their own families safe while forcing the poor to take up the gun for their so-called armed revolution." Reports of misuse of levy money are also not new. It's just that the recent operational reverses appears to have left a lot more of them desperate to get out of the game, and get out rich