Gold biscuit recovery from Maoist supply dumps: Risking life but not wealth, rebels picked safe haven asset

Raipur: The recovery of large quantities of gold biscuits from Maoist supply dumps across Chhattisgarh's Bastar region points to a strategy the insurgents were using to protect their cash wealth: investing in gold as a hedge against the risk of a demonetisation-like shock, a senior police officer told ET.

Authorities have recovered at least 8 kg of gold over the last two years - almost all of it in the form of biscuits in recent months - from dumps in remote areas, including Basaguda and Kutru in Bijapur district, and Barsoor in Dantewada.

A Maoist dump is a concealed underground cache, usually deep in the forest and sometimes placed in plastic drums or other containers before being camouflaged with soil, wood and fallen leaves.


Police expect more such recoveries as security forces intensify their anti-insurgency operations in Bastar's interior pockets. The government had set March 31 as the deadline for eliminating Naxalism.

"After the note ban, the Maoists realised it would be prudent to keep part of their money in gold. Gold is a liquid asset and can be easily converted into cash whenever required," Vivekanand, additional director general of police (ADGP) in charge of anti-Naxal operations, told ET. Both Bijapur and Dantewada districts are part of Bastar division.

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He suggested the "Maoists failed to exchange all their cash for the new currency after demonetisation."

Lost Gold

This is borne out by “the fact that we have recovered lakhs of rupees in the old 1,000 and 500 notes in recent months,” said Vivekanand. Some dumps contained only arms, he added, while others held a more unusual combination: AK-47s and gold biscuits.

Currently, a 10-g gold biscuit costs about ₹1.5 lakh in India. The purity of the recovered gold and the dates of purchase are not known.

“We have also learnt that there were occasions when a leader was handed a gold biscuit instead of cash to meet specific expenses,” Vivekanand said.

However, two people in the know said many of the dumps may never be found, as only some members of the central committee—several of whom were killed in recent operations—knew their locations.

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“The police are now taking the help of Maoists such as Papa Rao—a special zonal committee (SZC)-ranked cadre—to locate more dumps. But they are not senior enough to know the exact locations,” said one person.

The people cited requested not to be named as they are not authorised to speak to reporters. In the CPI (Maoist) hierarchy—a party now reduced to a near-defunct entity—the SZC is a rung below the central committee.