Police and intelligence units in Maoist insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are keeping an eye on Jan Dhan bank accounts amid reports  that left-wing extremists were forcing villagers in their strongholds to deposit money in them following the demonetisation of higher denomination notes.

In Jharkhand, the police have issued an appeal asking people not to allow Maoists to misuse their accounts to deposit extortion money. Their counterparts in Chhattisgarh have written to district magistrates (DMs) informing them of intelligence inputs that the rebels were shifting their money through proxies.

“Since the Maoists have significant amounts of cash in the form of dumps and hot cash with their cadres, they are desperate to convert and deposit this currency through various means,’’ Anti-Naxal Operations Special Director General DM Awasthi has said in his letter to DMs across Chhattisgarh. “Intelligence inputs indicate that the Maoists are pressurising their sympathisers/local industrialists/contractors/mine operators/dealers of forest produce/villagers and other such sources to convert their money into new denomination currencies.”

“We will be releasing the appeal as pamphlets across all the districts, besides putting it in the newspapers,” said Inspector General (Operations) M S Bhatia.