Incidents of Extortion and Looting by the CPN-Maoist since the April 2006 cease-fire

2006

July 28: The Maoists, since July 23, have set up a check post on the Mahendra Highway to collect donations from vehicles plying on the highway, according to Himalayan Times. They set up a bamboo-made barrier at Ranigunj Chowk of the Lalbandi-Phuljor road section, 45 kilometres from the district headquarters Malangawa. Insurgents in combat dress collect NR 10 from every vehicle, including passenger buses and cargo trucks, using a donation pad receipt with "security patrol help" written on it.

July 30: Maoists doubled the ‘road tax’ that they have been illegally collecting from vehicles plying along the East-West highway in Sarlahi, since the last week.

August 17: Reports indicated that at Chisapani in the Kailali district, the Maoists have set up barriers to collect "taxes" from vehicles and consumer items entering the region.

September 1: Maoists prohibited tax collection at Gaddachauki customs in the Kanchanpur district, where District Development Committee (DDC) had deployed its contractor. After seizing the tax receipts, the insurgents also threatened them not to do collection work in future.

September 20: Maoists snatched seven container vans which were seized by the District Police Office (DPO) Dolakha on September 18-night from Kharidanda on suspicion of bringing tax evaded goods from the Tatopani transit point.

September 21: Maoists have been collecting "tax" on most goods entering Tehrathum district, by stopping vehicles at Basantapur area, according to Kantipuronline. The "Kirant district peoples' government" has been collecting NR 10 per bottle of alcoholic drink, NR 5 per kilogram of goods of daily use and NR 1 per kilogram of grocery items imported to the district, the report said.

September 26: Nepal News reported that despite repeated commitments not to extort money from people forcefully, the Maoists are collecting money from Indian vehicles and passengers entering Nepal from India at Mechi bridge and Mechi customs office of Kakadbhitta in the Jhapa district since September 25-afternoon. According to Kantipuronline, the Maoists collected NR 1,600 each from six buses carrying Indian tourists.

November 2: Reports from Chitwan district indicated that the insurgents have been demanding huge sums of money in the name of "tax" from timber contractors.

In Jhapa, Maoists assaulted and subsequently abducted the owner of Munal Wood Industry, Shiva Upreti, from Chandragadhi-6. The group later called Upreti's family and asked for ransom and warned that they will kill him if the family members do not give the money.

November 4: Maoists seized a godown, an adjoining land belonging to the Agriculture Inputs Company at Phidim in the Panchthar district.

November 12: Maoists seized a plot of land from a poor farmer in Sarlahi at gunpoint and registered it in the name of a Maoist, Akalesh Mandal.

November 14: Maoists looted paddy from the ancestral house of former chairman of the Raj Parisad Standing Committee Keshar Jung Rayamajhi in the Nawalparasi district.

November 28: Three Maoists threatened to abduct the workers of the Odraha VDC-based sub-health post in Saptari if NR 10,000 in cash was not provided to them.

December 7: Maoists reportedly demanded 30 percent of the income from the Gadedhunga Community Forest Users' Group in the Aankhibhui VDC area of Gulmi district as ‘tax’ to their local government. Sudarshan Balal, a Maoist leader in-charge of Gulmi, said they would continue collecting ‘taxes’ until they join the interim government. The Maoists charge NR 85 for a bus, NR 90 for a truck, NR 65 for tractor, NR 105 for oil tanker and NR 35 for a jeep operating in the area.

Himalayan Times reports that Maoists have been collecting NR 50 per tractor of sand and NR 10 per vehicle as road tax. Maoists looted paddy harvested from three bighas of land at Batiyadar in Udayapur’s Jogidaha VDC-4. They have also placed obstructions on roads at Nijgadh, Simra, Jitpur, Gandak Chowk and Kalaiya and are collecting road tax, scrap tax, herbs tax and forest products tax since September 1.

In Nepalgunj, the Maoists asked a tractor-owner to pay them a sum of NR 100000 if he wants his seized tractor back.

December 14: In the Bardiya District Development Committee (DDC), Maoists are reportedly seizing all sources of income of the DDC. They are also reported to be collecting taxes from vehicles plying over the bridge atop the Karnali river in Kothiyaghat.

December 19: A group of Maoists seized the belongings of Police officials stationed at a newly restored Police post in the Banke district. Stating that they would not allow the reinstatement of the Police post, some 50 Maoists intruded into the Ilaka Police Post at Dhanauli and looted food grains, cloth and NR 10,000 in cash.

December 26: Maoists intensified their "donation" drive in several VDCs of Bhojpur district in the name of making arrangements for the daily needs of Maoists in the district.

2007

January 3: Maoists have been extracting ‘taxes’ in construction materials supply, rural roads and other internal resources of the Kaski District Development Committee (DDC) in several places of the district for the past five months, according to Himalayan Times.

January 12: Kantipuronline reported that the Maoists continued to collect 'taxes' from tourists who come to the Annapurna region, considered one of the best trekking routes in the world. They are reportedly collecting NR 100 from all the tourists. Maoists said that they were collecting the amount as per instructions by their party headquarters and are sending the collected amount of approximately NR 15,000 to NR 17,000 per day to Kaski District Committee of the Party every week or fortnightly.

January 30: Maoists started collecting ‘donations’ from locals of the Chitwan district claiming that they are compensating family members of victims and injured persons in the Madi incident of 2005.

February 17: Kantipuronline reports that Maoists are continuing their extortion activities at various places in the Panchthar district. They have been collecting money at Kabeli, Ranke and other places demanding NR 1000 each from the drivers of buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles and NR 500 from each taxi driver.

February 19: Maoists declared that they have plans to collect NPR three million from district dwellers of Nawalparasi within five days.

February 28: Media reports indicate that Maoists are involved in collecting donations from shop owners, industrialists and vehicles plying on different road sections of the Mahendra highway for their mass meeting to be organised in Dhangadhi on March 2.

March 15: Maoist insurgents have reportedly taken control of the Pumori Agro Forestry spreading over 85 bighas of land at Kumroj VDC in the Chitwan district and have begun selling the trees after cutting them down since February 2007.

March 19: Cadres of CPI-Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) led by Gorkha ‘district Secretary’, Chuda Khadka a.k.a. Prakash, captured 25 ropanis of land and four houses of the former Army Chief Sachchit Shumsher Rana at Laxmi Bazaar in the Prithvi Narayan municipality of the Gorkha district, and hoisted their party flag there.

March 28: A group of suspected Maoists killed Madhav Prasad Verma, a former VDC chairman in the mid-western district of Banke, according to Nepal News. The attackers also looted properties worth around NR 200,000 from Verma's house.

April 1: Maoists asked a contractor of an under-construction school at Khajuri in the Dhanusha district for donation and threatened him on phone of exploding a bomb in the school and killing him if he defied their order.

April 11: Maoists grabbed four bighas of land belonging to three locals, Sarala Tamrakar, Anila Tamrakar and Dilu Kumari Tamrakar, of Barah Kshetra in the Sunsari district.

April 15: Police arrested three Maoists and confiscated NR 3000 in cash and letter pads from them while they were collecting money at Dimuwa along the Pokhara-Baglung highway in the Parbat district.

April 17: Maoists destroyed the building of Chandra Jyoti School at Ramnagar in the Siraha district and also looted the construction materials.

May 2: Maoists captured a plot of private land covering six ropanis and six annas belonging to one Purna Man Tamang of Daraune Pokhari VDC-3 of Kavrepalanchowk district and destroyed crops worth tens of thousands of rupees.

May 19: A group of YCL cadres looted property worth NR 600,000 from the house of Ram Mani Nepane at Duwakot in the Bhaktapur district.

May 30: Around 400 Maoists, most of whom were YCL cadres, led by their parliamentarian Motidevi Chaudhary, seized over 60 bighas of land at Baida in the Bardiya district. The seized lands belong to a retired doctor of the then Royal Nepali Army, Bal Bahadur Swar, and seven other locals.

June 8: YCL activists seized land belonging to Jagat Bahadur Roka in the Tathipokhari Bazaar of Palungtar VDC in the Gorkha district. YCL said it was compelled to seize the land because Rokka had illegally acquired the one ropani of public land in Tathipokhari Bazaar when he was the chairman of the District Development Committee during the royal regime.

June 6: The pro-Maoist Tamuwan Liberation Front (TLF) captured over 50 ropanis of land in Pokhara belonging to the royal family. TLF's Gandak regional coordinator Lal Bahadur Gurung said the plots of land were captured as part of the first phase of the front's programme to seize all land owned by the royal family in the region.

July 9: Four Maoists led by area no. 3 in-charge Madan entered the house of Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai, secretary of the Pharpu VDC in the Ramechhap district, and assaulted him saying that he did not give the donation of NR 50,000 which was demanded from him.

July 12: Cadres of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Farmers' Association-Revolutionary and All Nepal Trade Unions' Federation captured 1100 ropanis of land belonging to the former Prime Minister and chairperson of the Rastriya Janashakti Party, Surya Bahadur Thapa, at north of the Uttarpani-Hile road section in Dhankuta district.

August 27: YCL cadres captured the vacant customs office at Rasuwagadi in the Rasuwa district for the last three days and started collecting revenue on the import and export of commodities from Tibet. They are, reportedly, charging up to NR 270 on a good weighing 20-kilogram.

October 3: Maoists have set up tax collection posts at Ranke and Kiteni along the Mechi Highway and collect NR 600 from the vehicles entering into the Panchthar and Ilam districts.

October 5: Maoists have resumed collecting 'tourism tax' from foreigners who are visiting the Dhaulagiri peak and upper Dolpa, at Darbang bazaar in the Myagdi district. They are forcibly collecting $15 from each tourist giving them the receipt of Magarat Mukti Morcha.

The YCL cadres threatened seven locals of Ghumti in the Rasuwa district to pay NR 500,000 as "compensation" of their vandalised office a month ago. They gave an ultimatum of one week and also threatened of "physical action" if they failed to pay the amount in time.

October 10: YCL cadres captured the house of former chief secretary Lok Man Singh Karki at Biratnagar-3 and hoisted their flag on it.

YCL cadres padlocked a house belonging to a former deputy prime minister, Bandri Prasad Mandal, and seized his vehicle at Biratnagar in the Morang district. They also drove away in Mandal’s car. .

October 16: CPN-Maoist cadres in the Ramechhap district are forcibly collecting money from vehicles plying on the Kathmandu-Manthali road. Stating that they need assistance for war, the Maoists are collecting up to NR 5,000 from each loaded vehicle.

October 18: Maoists in the Ilam district made it mandatory for the government servants to make 'donations' to them. Maoists have written letters to individual teachers and government officials instructing them to either pay the demanded sum or contribute physical labour. The VDC secretaries in the district have received verbal or written instructions from Maoists to contribute NR 20,000 to NR 50,000 from the development budget. Maoists have also demanded NR 80,000 to NR 130,000 donations from different tea estates in the district.

October 23: YCL cadres looted NR 45,000 from two Nepali Congress activists, Jhupu Bahadur Giri and Kali Bahadur Budhatokhi, in the Rukum district.

October 24: Cadres of the YCL seized lands belonging to four locals in Kataiya VDC-4 of Saptari district. A group of around 25 YCL cadres led by one 'Bimal' took over lands belonging to Raj Lal Mali, Gona Lal Parmani, Awadh Lal Parmani and another unidentified local. The YCL cadres even fenced off the lands after the capture.

October 27: YCL cadres led by their central committee member Ashok seized one Jyoti Farm at Parawanipur in the Parsa district. They pitched a Maoist flag on the farm premises and announced the seizure.

November 1: Cadres of the Maoist-affiliated Kirat State Committee are reportedly collecting NR 100 from each trekker at Ghat in the Solukhumbu district saying that they are collecting donations as per the decision of their district leadership. Similarly, the Maoists demand at least NR 50 each from trekking guides and NR 20 each from porters at Lukla.

November 2: Maoists are forcibly collecting 'transportation tax' from vehicles in the Ramechhap district. The cadres have set up checkpoints on the Araniko Highway and demand NR 200 each from trucks and up to NR 100 from a bus.

November 5: At Bhairahawa in the Rupandehi district, YCL cadres seized land and a house belonging to Niranjan Thapa, a former minister during the king's rule, at Bhaiya area in Siddharthanagar Municipality-6. They also placed their party flag at the housetop, claiming the seizure.

According to Kantipuronline, Maoists in the Lamjung district are extorting money from the government employees. Maoists have sent letters to the government offices demanding a total of 12 days' salary from the employees. Maoists have also deputed teams of two to three of their cadres to each office with a letter asking the employees to "help them with donation" and receipts.

December 3: Maoists captured a house owned by one Bholaman Shrestha at Khandbari-1 in the Sankhuwasabha district accusing him of being a feudal. Maoist district secretary Nabin said their party would use the seized house as their party office. They further declared that all the houses and lands belonging to Shrestha in the district were under their control.

December 5: Maoists assaulted and injured a foreign tourist, identified as Steve Jan from Switzerland, at Birethanti in the Kaski district as he did not pay the 'tourist fee' as demanded by them. Maoists reportedly demanded NR 1800 from Steve and assaulted him with bamboo sticks when he refused to pay them the money. Steve also disclosed that the Maoists are charging each tourist NR 100 per day.

December 8: Kantipuronline reports that CPN-Maoist cadres have forced the family of Til Bahadur Khadka in the Tulasipur municipality of the Dang district to live out of home for the last four months allegedly for not paying them a donation of NR 1.5 million. Khadka said the Maoists took away all his office papers and also seized vehicles, private land and a three-storied house situated at Tulasipur Chowk. He also informed that the Maoists seized his furniture factories based in Ghorahi and Tulasipur, demanding the donation amount.

2008

January 9: YCL cadres seized over a tonne of ginger planted in a farm belonging to one Laxmi Das Shrestha of Sarandanda-5 in Panchthar district. Later Shrestha said that, "They asked for donation and when I denied to pay up they took control of the ginger plantation on over two ropanis of land worth NR 20,000."

March 24: Maoists ‘seized’ two trucks from Butwal’s Jogikuti suspecting that weapons were being imported from India by the Armed Police Force (APF. CPN-Maoist central member Devendra Paudel and CPN-Maoist Member of Parliament Bam Dev Chhetri led the team that seized the two trucks. Central member of the YCL and Awadh Rajya Samiti coordinator Tek Bahadur Gharti said the trucks were stopped on the basis of information that they got from Nepal Army sources and his party’s central sources two days ago. He also claimed that 38 more trucks loaded with weapons had already entered Nepal. Meanwhile, the Jogikuti-based APF personnel said the trucks were loaded with equipment meant for the elections.

June 22: Maoist cadres have grabbed more that 20 hectares of land belonging to the Shankaracharya Guthi in the Madhesa Village Development committee of Sunsari district and started farming in it. They also distributed portions of the land to some families for building houses. According to Maoist district leaders, the land was seized to upgrade the living standards of the under-privileged communities.

August 1: The CPN-Maoist-affiliated tea estate workers seized three tea estates in Dhankuta district. Workers affiliated to the All Nepal Workers’ Trade Union Federation (ANWTUF) seized the Gurans Tea Estate, Kuwapani Tea Estate and Narayani Tea Estate, alleging the management of the estates of not addressing their demands. With the objective of putting pressure on the management to meet their 13-point demand, workers of the three tea estates have been staging an agitation for three weeks. The ANWTUF Dhankuta president Gopal Tamang, Maoists’ Dhankuta secretary Kamal, Maoist leader Ghanashyam Kiranti and YCL Dhankuta president Ujjwal Kiranti led the agitating workers to the Gurans Tea Estate, broke open the lock and captured the tea estate. The workers also captured the Kuwapani and Narayani Tea Estates.