A view of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters in New Delhi. file | Photo Credit: V. Sudarshan
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached around Rs 20.65 crore including balances in over 150 bank accounts in connection with the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) case.
According to the agency, the accounts include 124 special fixed deposits and one mutual fund belonging to Santosh Construction and its various partners. Action has been taken under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The accounts were earlier frozen under the Criminal Procedure Code.
Probing the role of Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, one of the partners of Santosh Construction, the NIA found that he allegedly had close links with top CPI (Maoist) cadre. “He had provided the cash to Ravindra Ganjhu, a regional committee member of the CPI (Maoist),” the agency said.
The case pertains to the Gunjhu-led attack on a police control room vehicle at Lukaiya More in Chandwa, Jharkhand, on November 22, 2019, in which four policemen were killed and their weapons snatched away.
As alleged, a day before the incident, Singh had met Ganjhu in Birjunga forest and given him Rs 2 lakh, which was used for the preparation and execution of the attack. The NIA took over the investigation in June 2020 and months later, seized over ₹2.50 lakh from his house. It was attached in April 2022.
The NIA alleged that even after the Lukaiya More incident, Singh continued to finance the CPI (Maoist) and their activities. He gave Rs 5 lakh to couriers from Ganjhu identified as Baijnath, Rajesh and Kunwar in January 2020. The courier was intercepted with the money and a separate case was registered at Chandwa police station. Later it was transferred to NIA.
Santosh Construction had initially filed a writ petition in the Jharkhand High Court for the release of six key bank accounts. After the petition was dismissed, he approached the Supreme Court. However, that plea was also dismissed on January 3, the agency said.