NIA nabs self-styled chief of Jharkhand-based Naxal outfit in terror fund case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a self-styled chief of proscribed Naxal outfit People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) in the national capital. 

Dinesh Gope alias Kuldeep Yadav alias Badku, hailing from Khunti district of Jharkhand, was chargesheeted by the central probe agency in a case related to the recovery of demonetised currency worth ₹25.38 lakh from PLFI operatives.

According to NIA, Gope has been booked in more than 102 criminal cases in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha. Most of the cases are related to murders, abductions, threats, extortion and raising funds for the Naxal outfit formed in 2007 in Jharkhand.

The NIA had also declared a ₹5 lakh reward for leads on Dinesh Gope, in addition to the reward of ₹25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand government. The Naxal commander had been absconding for almost two decades.

NIA had also declared a reward of ₹5 lakhs for leads on Dinesh, in addition to the reward of Rs. 25 lakhs announced by the Jharkhand Government. He had been absconding for almost two decades.

On February 3 last year, an encounter had taken place between a Dinesh Gope-led PLFI gang and security forces in forest area under Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

During the gunbattle, several rounds were fired before the Naxals sneaked into the forest and Gope managed to escape. On the run, he was making efforts to re-established PLFI's stronghold in Jharkhand. 

According to NIA, Gope used to extort money and carry out attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorise businessmen, contractors and public. He 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 the accused Dinesh Gope.

A case was registered on November 10, 2016 at Bero police station in Ranchi and re-registered by the NIA on January 19, 2018. The police had first chargesheeted four people on January 9, 2017. The central agency filed the 
first supplementary chargesheet in the case against 11 accused, including Dinesh Gope. 

The NIA filed the second supplementary chargesheet in the case on July 23, 2022 against five individuals and three private limited companies. It had also attached 14 bank accounts and two cars, alongwith cash and immovable property worth more than a crore, in the case.

Known previously as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), PLFI is responsible for hundreds of terror incidents in Jharkhand, including several murders using firearms, as per the NIA probe. The outfit used to lure unemployed youth by providing them motor bikes, mobile phones and easy money and after imparting training, used to equip them with lethal weapons to carry out terror incidents.

Extortion is the outfit's major source of income and it has been targeting coal traders, railway contractors and various private entities involved in developmental projects in various districts of Jharkhand. The Naxal outfit had also formed alliances with different criminal gangs in order to spread their nefarious activities, and executed several incidents of murders and arson in Jharkhand.

Dinesh Gope was part of a criminal conspiracy to channelise the extorted funds collected from the contractors/businessmen engaged in the developmental projects in Jharkhand. He was said to be involved in investing these funds in dubious shell companies formed in partnership with other PLFI associates and his family members. The extorted money was also being transferred from Jharkhand to other places through a network of hawala operators, the NIA stated.

In July 2007, Masi Charan Purty, a renegade of the CPI-Maoist, along with several of his followers, had joined Gope in order to raise PLFI as a Naxal outfit. Though Purty was subsequently arrested, the PLFI spread its activities under Gope’s command. He used to collect huge amounts of extortion money, which was further used to procure sophisticated weapons, including AK 47s and foreign made Rifles, such as HK 33.