Probe begins into Maoists’ extortion demand from legislator

October 12th, 2009 PATNA - The police in Bihar are investigating a complaint by a ruling Janata Dal (United) legislator that unidentified men have demanded Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) from him. Manoj Yadav, a JD-U legislator of Banka district, around 150 km from state capital Patna, lodged a first information report (FIR) Sunday saying that an unidentified man sent him an SMS demanding Rs.1 crore.

September 19th, 2009 PANAJI - Goa Tourism Minister Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco, booked two days ago for allegedly threatening and extorting money from a casino, was Saturday granted interim bail by a district court in Margao. The minister has alleged that Congress leaders are out to "nail" him.

September 18th, 2009 PANAJI - Goa Tourism Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco Friday said vested political interests were gunning for him, especially in view of the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Pacheco has been booked by the Crime Branch of the state police on charges of threatening and extorting money from an onshore casino management to the tune of Rs.360,000.

September 5th, 2009 RAIPUR - Four people, who were posing as Maoists, were arrested for threatening a woman legislator and demanding an extortion of Rs.1.3 million, police said Sunday. "The men were arrested in simultaneous overnight raids carried out in Surguja district for seeking extortion from Renuka Singh," Inspector General of Police (Surguja) R.C.

September 2nd, 2009 PATNA - Suspected Maoist guerrillas in Bihar have kidnapped six security guards working for a private construction company that had not met their extortion demand, police here said Wednesday. The incident took place late Tuesday when a group of armed guerrillas attacked the office of Subhash Projects & Marketing Ltd (SPML), a private road construction firm in Jamui district.

August 21st, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoist rebels have threatened to blow up the residence of Orissa Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei and kill his son, police said Friday. The letter was received at the office of Orissa Mining Corporation at Jajpur Thursday.

July 8th, 2009 BHOPAL - The Madhya Pradesh government has recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the murder of a Congress legislator in the state. "We have forwarded the matter to the central government with a request to conduct a CBI probe.

July 4th, 2009 RAIPUR - Maoist rebels extort up to Rs.300 crore every year in Chhattisgarh from traders of forest products, transporters and iron ore mining firms, says Chief Minister Raman Singh. "Maoists extort at least Rs.250-300 crore (Rs.2.5-3 billion) annually and their extortion business runs from the state's southern tip of Bastar to the northern Surguja district," Singh told IANS.

May 24th, 2009 RAIPUR - Maoists are forcibly taking away children from villages and using them as human shields against security forces, alleges a Chhattisgarh legislator, whose constituency is badly hit by Left extremist insurgency. "Maoists are forcibly picking up boys and girls from their houses and schools in the interiors to use them as shields in the war against (security) forces," Mahesh Gagda, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Bijapur, told IANS.

April 29th, 2009 PANAJI - A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Goa has been booked for forcibly whisking away two bootleggers, who were accused of smuggling liquor into Karnataka for distribution during the election campaign. Legislator Ramesh Tawadkar was named in a police complaint by the forest department Tuesday, two days after he took away the bootleggers.

February 2nd, 2009 PATNA - Shambhu Srivastav, a senior leader of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has demanded a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe into the assets acquired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his cabinet colleagues and top bureacrats. 'I have demanded a probe by the CVC into the assets acquired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and political leaders, including ministers and administrative officers close to Nitish Kumar,' Srivastav, a legislator and former national spokesperson and general secretary of JD-U, told IANS here Tuesday.

January 13th, 2009 RAIPUR - Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi Wednesday alleged that the 15 people killed last week and dubbed Maoists were innocent and demanded an independent probe. Accusing the police of plotting a 'fake encounter', Jogi told reporters here: 'The police actually murdered civilians belonging to Gollapalli area including Singavaram village of Dantewada district.' He sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a panel of the state assembly.

December 26th, 2008 LUCKNOW - Days after an Uttar Pradesh engineer was allegedly beaten to death by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator, the victim's predecessor in the public works department (PWD) has accused the same politician of regularly extorting money for party funds. C.D. Rai, an executive engineer with the PWD, told reporters in Mathura where he is now posted: 'MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his supporters often used to pressurise engineers for money for party funds.' Tiwari and his supporters have been accused of lynching PWD engineer M.K.

December 24th, 2008 LUCKNOW - Facing flak after her party's legislator was arrested for an engineer's murder, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday accused all opposition parties of mounting a slander campaign against her and said there was no need for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter. 'The allegations of different political parties about arrested MLA Shekhar Tiwari indulging in extortion for my birthday celebrations are absolutely baseless and false,' Mayawati told a hurriedly convened press conference here.

December 23rd, 2008 LUCKNOW - An engineer in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district was lynched by a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and his supporters after he refused to pay an alleged extortion demand for the birthday celebrations of Chief Minister Mayawati, police said Wednesday. 'Supporters of BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari picked M.K.