Patna, April 21: Police have launched a drive to confiscate benami properties of senior Maoist leaders in Bihar to strike at the source of income of the banned CPI(Maoist).

Assets purchased by a person in someone else’s name are referred to as benami properties. Though the actual owner pays the money for such properties, the person’s name does not figure in the purchase documents.

“The police have launched the drive following a tip-off that some senior leaders of the banned outfit (read CPI-Maoist) have amassed huge properties through illegal means. Many such properties have been purchased in fake names,” director-general of police (DGP) Abhayanand said on Saturday.

The police headquarters issued directives to all superintendents of police earlier this month, asking them to gather information about benami properties of the Maoist leaders and frontline cadres.

Following this, the police in Rohtas identified two plots of land belonging to a senior leader of the banned outfit. Both the plots are in the Chutia police station area of the district, considered a stronghold of the CPI(Maoist).

“Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the properties were bought illegally. Purchase records of the plots have been verified and the district administrative officials have been asked to take necessary action,” a senior officer associated with the drive said. He added that the officials concerned would soon put up a notice on a board, asking the owners to come up with valid claims of the plots.

“If no claimant turns up within a month, the government will initiate the process of taking over the plots’ possession. The claimant/s will also have to furnish details of the source of income to substantiate his or her claim,” the officer revealed.

“The government will confiscate the benami property of the extremists according to provisions in the Bihar Police Act, 2007. We have got similar information from other Maoist-hit districts. We are verifying the information,” the DGP told The Telegraph.

Sources in the police headquarters said the police had stumbled upon some documents that revealed accumulation of wealth by a number of top ranking leaders of the banned outfit. The documents were seized during police operations in various districts, the sources added.

An officer associated with anti-Maoist operations said the crackdown to confiscate the benami properties would be a second blow to the outfit after the ongoing drive against poppy cultivation under the Naxalites’ patronage. The police, with help of satellite images, have identified poppy fields in Gaya, Rohtas, East Champaran, Katihar and Jamui districts. The rebels use the money that they earn by patronising poppy cultivation to purchase firearms,

Of the 38 revenue districts in the state, 21 have been declared as worst hit by Naxalite violence. The sources said 33 districts were either partially or severely affected by the menace.