MAOISTS IN A CASH-22

The RBI's withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes is taking a toll on extremists' finances

On June 16, a police team lay in wait at a tractor showroom in Bijapur town in South Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, declared to be Left Wing Extremism-affected. Soon, a man entered and told the salesperson that he wished to buy a tractor but that he would pay for it entirely in cash. The police nabbed the man, identified as Dinesh Taati, 23, a resident of Palnar village under the Gangalur police station, and recovered from him Rs 10 lakh, all in Rs 2,000 denomination. Taati claimed to be associated with an NGO and confessed to having received the money from Munna Hemla, head of the 'Palnar janatana sarkar' (parallel government), who in turn had got it from Gangalur area committee in-charge Dinesh Modiam and members Shanti Punem and Pandru Potam. Besides the cash, Naxal literature and a Bijapur Central Cooperative Bank passbook were also recovered from Taati.