Arrested Maoist says legislators also pay ‘levy’ to Reds in Bihar

In a startling disclosure, an arrested member of CPI (Maoist) said apart from industrialists, contractors and traders, some legislators with business interests in north Bihar were also paying ‘levy’ to the banned outfit.

Spilling the beans during his interrogation in Muzaffarpur, 71km from state capital Patna, Musafir Sahni, a self-styled zonal commander of the Left wing extremist organisation, said at least 25 elected people representatives, including three legislators, were paying levy to Maoists operating in north Bihar. “All the three legislators named by Sahni are from south-western diara (sandbar) areas of Muzaffarpur district. One of the MLAs, Sahni claimed, recently paid ₹5 lakh as levy. The MLA runs a construction company, which has been carrying out many railway projects, including doubling of Muzaffarpur-Kurhani railway track and laying of new rail line between Sahebganj and Vaishali on the proposed Sagauli-Hajipur route,” said a police officer.

Sahni was arrested along with two other CPI (Maoist) members from Ramnagar village in Sakra police station area of the district on the night of May 11.

The police officer, who is part of the interrogation team, said Sahni was in-charge of the entire north Bihar region, apart from some areas of eastern UP.

“Sahni has confessed to have been involved, along with his son Rohit, in many incidents of violence since joining Maoists in 1991,” the officer added.