Top Maoist’s bodyguard surrenders in Jharkhand

Seraikela (Jharkhand): A top Maoist’s bodyguard surrendered before the police in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharswan district on Sunday, police said.

Twenty-two-year-old Prakash Gope, bodyguard of CPI (Maoist) central committee member Ramesh Majhi alias Anal Da, surrendered due to exploitation by leaders of the banned outfit, Superintendent of Police Anand Prakash said.

Gope, who hails from Chota Segoi village in Kuchai police station area in the district, was wanted in several cases. Since he joined the outfit in 2019, he was involved in all incidents executed by Majhi, the police officer said.

A migrant labourer who had earlier worked in Bengaluru and Odisha, Gope had to join the outfit when he accompanied some villagers to deliver food to the Maoists in November 2019, and impressed by his firing skills, he was given a Self-Loading Rifle and made the bodyguard of Majhi in 2020.

However, he became disillusioned when Maoists ignored his repeated pleas for financial assistance for his sister’s marriage, and disallowed him from visiting his family, the officer said.

“Gope came to know about Jharkhand government’s rehabilitation policy ‘Nayee Disha’, and contacted senior police officers to return to the mainstream,” he added.