Ranchi (Jharkhand): The police has arrested five notorious Naxalites of People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) and recovered arms and ammunition including carbine and pistol from them. Among the arrested Naxalites are notorious Laden and Tulsi Pahan. Undeterred by the police action, Naxalites are continuing with their activities. PLFI is the second largest organisation of Naxalites in Jharkhand. Notwithstanding police action on them, PLFI is openly demanding extortion money from well to do people.
PLFI’s area commander Tulsi Pahan was nabbed by the police on November 16 and is being interrogated in a secret place.
The Ranchi police had arrested Tulsi Pahan and his five comrades five years ago too and sent them to jail. That time a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate a top political leader. After his release from jail, he again started extorting money.
According to information received by the police, some businessmen have received threatening phone calls from PLFI. Tulsi Pahan is alleged to have been behind these threat calls.
Recently the secretary of Indian Medical Association Dr Shambhu Prasad received threats on phone and Whatsapp message asking him to pay Rs 20 lakh as protection money within 24 hours or face death.
135 arrested this year
IG of Police (Operations) Saket Singh told ETV Bharat that during 2018, as many as 122 members of PLFI were arrested. In 2019, 81 of them and by October this year 135 Naxalites were arrested. However, PLFI supremo Dinesh Gop is still absconding. It is said that the police do not have any photographs of Dinesh Gop, making it difficult to track him down.
What is PLFI
People’s Liberation Front of India is a splinter group of Communist Party of India – Maoist. It was formed in the year 2007 by Dinesh Gop. The same year Maoist leader Masi Charan Purti along with many other Naxalites had joined PLFI. Purti was later arrested by the police. Later, PLFI expanded with many Maoists joining it.
The threat of PLFI runs large in the rural areas of Ranchi, Khunti, Simdega, Gumla. It has appointed area commanders for different districts. It has also infiltrated in the neighbouring states of Bihar, Odisha.
PLFI has been getting support from its ‘Bihar Link’ after two top Naxal leaders along with ten of its cadre were killed in police encounter in 2019. Some of the absconding notorious criminals of Bihar have joined PLFI to swell its ranks.
Franchise system of extortion racket
Like the Maoists, PLFI does not follow any ideology. Its goal is only to spread terror and extort protection money from businessmen and other moneyed persons. The PLFI threatens contractors of various development projects of the state government and extracts from them protection money. If a person refuses to pay his property is set on fire or he is killed.
According to police PLFI works on a franchise system. PLFI issues its letter pad to small criminal organizations operating in rural areas and also gives them weapons to carry out extortion. PLFI has the lion’s share of the extortion money.
Who is Dinesh Gop
PLFI supremo Dinesh Gop had been a soldier of the Indian Army. He left the army after killing his elder brother Suresh Gop in 2003. Dinesh Gop does not believe in the Maoist ideology because Maoists want to implement Chinese design to which PLFI is opposed.
The NIA has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on Dinesh Gop in a case of terror funding. The state government has also announced a reward of Rs 25 on his head. The NIA arrested his two wives, Hira Devi and Shakuntala Kumari from Kolkata on January 30 this year and charge-sheets have already been filed against both.
What is the terror funding case
After the demonetisation, Rs 25.38 were confiscated from Dinesh Gop’s shelter in Bedo. A case was registered by the Bedo police station in 2018 which was taken over by the NIA. So far, ten persons have been arrested in this case while main accused Dinesh Gop is still absconding. According to the investigation by the NIA, the extortion money collected from businessmen and contractors in Jharkhand was being invested in shell companies.
The NIA raided ten hideouts of Dinesh Gop in Jharkhand and West Bengal in February. NIA investigation revealed that the two wives of Dinesh Gop had Rs 19,93,817 in their bank accounts besides vehicles valued at Rs 25 lakh.
NIA filed a charge-sheet in July this year. According to the charge-sheet, Dinesh Gop’s wives Shakuntala Devi and Hira Devi alias Anita Devi, residents of Khunti Jayprakash Singh Bhuiyan, Amit Jaiswal and resident of Gumla Fuleshwar Gop had invested extortion money in shell companies Bhavya Engicon Pvt Ltd, Shiv Adishakti Minerals Pvt Ltd and Shakti Samriddhi Infra Pvt Ltd. From this money, immovable property and vehicles were purchased.
