Tag : PLFI

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested the absconding self-styled supremo of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a proscribed Naxal outfit of Jharkhand. Dinesh Gope alias Kuldeep Yadav alias Badku was nabbed in New Delhi, said the NIA, adding "The accused had 102 criminal cases against him and carried a bounty of Rs 30 lakh." Gope, a resident of Khunti district in Jharkhand, was earlier chargesheeted by the NIA in the case relating to the recovery of demonetized currency of Rs 25.38 lakh from the operatives of PLFI. He was absconding in the case which is among one of the two cases being investigated by the NIA's Ranchi branch against the PLFI. According to NIA investigations, more than 102 criminal cases are registered against Gope in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha, and most of these cases relate to murders, abductions, threats, extortion, and raising funds for the PLFI, a Maoist outfit formed in 2007 in Jharkhand and also a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). The NIA had also declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh for leads on Gope, in addition to the reward of Rs 25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand Government. "Gope had been absconding for almost two decades," said the NIA. On February 3 last year, the NIA said, an encounter had taken place between a Gope-led PLFI squad and security personnel in the forest area under Gudri Police Station of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. "Several rounds were fired in the encounter before the rebels sneaked into the forest and Gope managed to escape. He had been absconding since then, and had been taking shelter at different places while making all efforts to re-establish the PLFI's stronghold in Jharkhand," said the anti-terr ...