Exposed: The Lavish Lifestyle Of Jharkhand’s Red Terror Outfit Chief, Funded By Extortions And Kidnappings For Ransom

Dinesh Gope claims to be a ‘revolutionary’ and wants to overthrow the Indian state to establish a communist dictatorship.

This middle-aged chief of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a proscribed red terror outfit active in Jharkhand, rails and rants against capitalists and claims to be fighting for the rights of the poor and marginalised.

But his penchant for expensive sedans and SUVs, women, palatial bungalows and a super-luxurious lifestyle belies that altruistic claim.

This lifestyle is funded by extortions and kidnappings for ransom carried out by the PLFI, which Jharkhand Police describe as a splinter group of the CPI(Maoist).

This week’s arrest of a few aides of Gope by police in Jharkhand and Bihar, and the recoveries of huge amounts of cash and valuables from them, provide a peek into the lavish lifestyle of red terrorists, who claim to be fighting for the poor and the backward.

Last week, Jharkhand Police arrested eight persons who were supplying arms and other materials, and providing logistics support, to the PLFI.

Investigations revealed that this syndicate, headed by 32-year-old Nivesh Kumar, functions as banker and investor for PLFI, especially its chief Gope.

Nivesh Kumar, who escaped the police raid last week, was put under surveillance. Based on intelligence inputs, the police raided a house in Ranchi’s Prem Nagar and arrested Kumar’s father Subhash Paswan and brother Praveen Kumar.

The eight-bedroom palatial bungalow they were staying in was constructed with money received from the PLFI, say Jharkhand Police. Police also recovered more than Rs 77 lakh in currency notes, a BMW sedan, a Thar jeep, a Mahindra XUV-500 and a Mahindra Xylo, besides jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore.

All of that, police told Swarajya, actually belongs to PLFI chief Gope since it was all bought with the huge amounts of money that he funnelled into the syndicate. Jharkhand Police also learnt that Nivesh Kumar would be travelling to Bihar from Delhi with his accomplices.

Bihar Police, acting on information provided by its Jharkhand counterpart, intercepted a top-end MG Hector (priced at nearly Rs 22 lakh) with West Bengal number plates on National Highway 84 (between Patna and Buxar) and arrested Nivesh and three of his accomplices — Subham Poddar (20), Dhruv Kumar (32) and Kaneez Fatima (alias Anjali Patel).

Bihar police Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Shahabad Range told Swarajya that apart from a huge amount of cash, mobile phones and other valuables, a number of documents which revealed that the SUV (MG-Hector) and other valuables were bought with money received from PLFI chief Dinesh Gope.

What’s also very interesting is that Kaneez Fatima is an illegal migrant from Khulna in Bangladesh and was running a massage parlour in Bengaluru before shifting to Delhi a few years ago.

Nivesh Kumar, who was a petty criminal before coming in contact with Gope, befriended Fatima — she had abandoned her husband and infant daughter and entered India illegally — during a visit to her massage parlour in Delhi about three years ago.

Nivesh Kumar introduced Gope to Fatima and the two are said to have met a few times in Delhi as well as Ranchi. Fatima claims that though she is involved in the sex trade, Kumar had married her and she had adopted a new name — Anjali Patel.

Kumar had also purchased a boutique hotel in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area in Fatima’s name with money he received from Gope. Kumar had paid nearly Rs 20 crore for the hotel.

Gope had stayed in that hotel with Fatima a few times. Gope is said to love the company of women and had two wives — Shakuntala Kumari and Hira Devi — who were arrested from a hideout in Kolkata in January 2020. Gope, say police, has many mistresses in Jharkhand, Bihar and Bengal.

Gope, who carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on his head, is known to shower his mistresses, including Fatima, with expensive gifts of jewellery, perfumes, clothes and handbags.

Fatima, who has a fondness for handbags and shoes, had received many expensive gifts — including Armani handbags — from Gope.

A top officer of Jharkhand Police told Swarajya from state capital Ranchi that the PLFI collects an estimated Rs 50 crore a year from private mining companies, industrialists and businessmen as ‘protection money’, and also as ransom from kidnappings of wealthy individuals and their families.

“The PLFI is a mercenary organisation without any principles and scruples. It is also into contract killings,” said the police officer.

Gope spends only a small portion of the proceeds from his criminal activities in running the PLFI and pays paltry sums to the outfit’s tribal footsoldiers, the police officer added.

“The lion’s share of revenue is passed onto Nivesh Kumar for investing in properties, financial instruments and other savings like fixed deposits, mutual funds and even the stock market,” the police officer added.

According to very conservative estimates, the PLFI is said to have collected over Rs 500 crore through extortions, contract killings and ransom (from kidnappings) since its formation in 2007.

Most of that has gone into acquiring assets and funding the lavish lifestyle of Gope.

Nivesh Kumar’s lifestyle itself provides an indication of the assets owned by Gope.

“Despite being unemployed, Kumar owns assets worth over Rs 20 crore and has bank deposits amounting to Rs 15 crore in his own name as well as that of his wife. His family members also have assets worth over Rs 10 crore in their names. All this has been earned by Kumar as ‘commission’ (for his services) from Dinesh Gope. So one can imagine the amount of total assets owned by Gope himself,” said the police officer.

Gope fancies himself as a ‘fearless revolutionary’ and projects himself as a simple man to his ‘followers’, most of whom are tribals.

But, say police, his penchant for wine, women and wealth reveals his shadow side.

“He has two sides to himself — one he projects to his footsoldiers and his real self, which is calculatedly hidden. He has very expensive tastes and is fond of the good things of life,” said a retired police officer in Jharkhand who has been involved in operations against the PLFI.

Gope, incidentally, has been sending overtures to a section of the Jharkhand Police indicating his desire to surrender. He also attempted to establish links with the last BJP government in Jharkhand for this.

An interview he granted to a prominent business daily in June 2018 (when the BJP was in power in Jharkhand) praising Prime Minister Modi was an attempt on his part to reach out to the state political leadership.

But those attempts have not borne fruit.

“Gope knows that the noose is tightening around his neck and it is a matter of time before he is caught. He doesn’t want to be caught and tried because he knows he’ll have to spend long years in hardship behind bars. That’s why he wants to surrender so that he can continue to enjoy his wealth,” said the police officer.

But the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has to approve such surrenders, is against negotiating deals with red terrorists. Gope wants immunity from prosecution for his many crimes, including murders and extortion, and the MHA is against that.

“As a matter of principle and policy, the present Union Government (led by Prime Minister Modi) is against striking deals with people like Gope, who want to be absolved of their crimes. The (Union) government makes a clear distinction between Maoists and mercenaries like Gope. That’s why Gope’s overtures have not been accepted,” said the police officer.

Jharkhand Police say Gope’s days are numbered. “He has committed many crimes and is not a Maoist, but a common criminal. He will ultimately have to face the law,” said state police chief Neeraj Sinha.

And this is what Gope fears the most: being denied access to his wealth, women and wine.