Maoists have claimed that they attacked the home of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Rajan Kumar Singh in Bihar’s Aurangabad district on Saturday night because he failed to exchange Rs 5 crore they had given him in demonetised currency, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday. Singh’s 55-year-old uncle Narendra Singh died in the attack in Sudi Bigaha village.
“Attach the movable and immovable properties of BJP MLC and contractor Rajan Kumar Singh,” the rebels wrote in a pamphlet, hundreds of which were found strewn around the village in the attack’s aftermath. “Rajan Singh should return Rs 5 crore given at the time of demonetisation for exchange and Rs 2-crore due as levy.”
The 30 to 40 guerrilas who participated in the attack – it was reportedly led by the rebel outfit’s commanders Sandeep Yadav, Vivek Yadav and Sanjit Yadav – also torched 10 vehicles and set on fire the house of a villager who works with the police. The Deo police station is about a km from the village. They retreated once the police and the 153 Batallion of the Central Reserve Police Force reached the village and fired at them.
The rebels claimed they would continue to attack the properties of contractors and landlords responsible for getting the authorities to attach the assets of their leaders. According to the police, the Enforcement Directorate recently seized Sandeep Yadav’s property. “Our fight is not against Sangh Parivar activists, the BJP or their family members,” the rebels said in the pamphlets. “Our fight is against elements like Rajan Singh.”
Rajan Kumar Singh denied the Maoists’ allegations, and held the police and the state government responsible for the attack, NDTV reported. “The Maoist attack in the village is the result of mistakes of both the administration and the state government,” he added.
The legislator said he has met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and demanded that police pickets be set up in the village. “I constantly feared for myself and my family and even wrote to the DGP [director general of police] but no action was taken,” he added.
The Narendra Modi government had banned the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in November 2016 with the aim flushing out black money and stopping the funding of extremist groups.
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