NIA arrests chief of Maoist outfit Dinesh Gope in Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested Dinesh Gope, the selfstyled head of People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), from Delhi, officials said.

Gope alias “Kuldeep Yadav” alias “Badku”, a resident of Khunti district, had over 100 criminal cases against him and was carrying a reward of ₹30 lakh on information leading to his arrest, officials said.

He was earlier charge-sheeted by NIA in a 2018 case related to the recovery of ₹25.38 lakh in demonetised currency from PLFI operatives, officials said. He had been absconding for almost two decades. The 2018 case is among the two cases being investigated by NIA’s Ranchi Branch against the PLFI.

“As per investigations, more than 102 criminal cases are registered against Gope in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha. Most of these cases relate to murders, abductions, threats, extortion, and raising funds for the PLFI, a militant Maoist outfit formed in 2007,” an NIA official said.

NIA had declared a reward of ₹5 lakh for leads on Gope, in addition to ₹25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand government.

On February 3, last year, an encounter took place between a Gope-led PLFI squad and security personnel in a forested area under the Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district in the state. Several rounds were fired before the rebels sneaked into the forest and Gope managed to escape. He had been taking shelter at different places while making efforts to re-establish the PLFI’s stronghold in Jharkhand, the official said.

“Gope used to extort money and execute attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorise businessmen, contractors and the public at large,” the official said.

“The accused, along with his associates, was involved in depositing the demonetised currency in a bank account at a petrol pump, to be later collected through levy/extortion. The illegal money was then invested through banking channels and dubious shell companies in the name of close associates and family members of Gope.”

Previously known as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), the PLFI is responsible for hundreds of terror incidents in Jharkhand, including several murders using firearms, according to NIA.

The outfit used to lure unemployed youth and equip them with lethal weapons to carry out terror incidents, the agency has said.