New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached a house belonging to absconding Maoist leader Ravinder Ganjhu in Jharkhand, an official said on Wednesday.

Ganjhu's house located at Banjhitoli, Hesla Mauza in Latehar district had been illicitly constructed and was attached under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a case registered last year, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

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The official said the case pertains to the arrest of the leaders and cadres of proscribed terrorist organisation CPI(Maoist) and seizure of arms and ammunition under the jurisdiction of Peshrar police station in Lohardaga in Jharkhand.

During this operation, a gathering of CPI(Maoist) members, including self-styled regional commander Ganjhu, was detected in the forest area of Bulbul.

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It was revealed that Maoist leaders and cadres such as Balram Oraon, Muneshwar Ganjhu, Balak Ganjhu, Dinesh Nagesia, Aghnu Ganjhu, Lajim Ansari, Markush Nagesia, Sanjay Nagesia, Sheela Kherwar and 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, the spokesperson said.

Accordingly, a joint operation by the local police and CRPF was conducted and during the search, active cadres of the CPI(Maoist) had fired indiscriminately upon the security forces en route to Bahabar forest at Harkatta Toli and Banglapat, the official said, adding 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.

The case was initially registered on February 21 last year at Peshrar police station against 17 accused individuals and unidentified armed cadres affiliated with the CPI(Maoist). The NIA subsequently took over the case on June 14, 2022.

"Investigations in this case established that the house was built with the active involvement of his close associate and co-accused, Raju Kumar, also known as Raju Sahu. Ganjhu invested funds in the construction of this property, which were obtained through extortion and levy collection from local contractors and businessmen," the spokesperson said.

The official said investigations further established that 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 had declared a reward of Rs 15 lakh, while the NIA declared an additional reward of Rs 5 lakh on the absconding Maoist leader.

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