Raipur, Sep 15 (IANS): Several Essar group officials, in and outside Chhattisgarh, are under police scanner for allegedly making huge amounts of cash funding to various factions of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), top police sources said Thursday.

The police have "some credible leads" to direct involvement of a Chhattisgarh-based Essar general manager and two other staff members. The development follows intensive interrogation of a contractor, B.K. Lala, a senior police official told IANS.

Lala was arrested last week at a weekly market of Palnar village, where he is alleged to have handed over Rs.15 lakh in cash to journalist-cum-activist Lingaram Kodopi.

Kodopi was also arrested. The police claim he was receiving the money on behalf of Maoists, though human rights activists have charged the police with being vengeful against the tribal youth and framing a false case against him.

"Leads emerging after arrest of Lala and Kodopi indicate the transaction amount runs into several million to persuade several Dantewada-based Maoist factions to allow the Essar group to reopen a 267-km iron ore slurry pipeline blasted off at several places between Dantewada's Kirandul and Andhra Pradesh's port city Visakhapatnam," the official said.

Dantewada superintendent of police Ankit Garg, who is handling the case, said: "The names of a number of company (Essar) officials have cropped up. I don't want to share the leads with the media now but you can expect strong police action very soon."