KLO No. 3 MALKAN HELD, PRE-POLL TERROR PLOT FOILED, SAY COPS

THT, SILIGURI: The banned Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) suffered another blow on Sunday after its third-in-command, Malkan Singh alias Madhav Mondal, was arrested in Malda with a made-inGermany HK-33 assault rifle and several rounds of ammunition. The police claimed to have foiled a pre-poll terror plot hatched by the outfit with the arrest.

Malkan was picked up in a joint operation of the Malda police and the SSB from Jamalpur forest within Habibpur PS area at 2am. Nine arrest warrants were pending against Malkan and the police had declared a cash reward for information on his whereabouts.

Satyajit Banerjee, DIG (Malda range), said, “A German-made HK-33 rifle, two magazines, 112 live cartridges, Rs 48,000 in cash and fake currencies worth Rs 85,000 were recovered from him.” The operation was led by Shyam Singh, the additional superintendent of police, Malda.

Malkan is the third most important leader in the KLO after its chairman Jeevan Singha and deputy chairman Tom Adhikary. Tom was arrested from a place near the Nepal border on February 16 along with Manchalal Singha (41) alias Nilambar Rajbanshi, the finance secretary of KLO. Jeevan Singha, KLO chairman, is believed to be hiding in Myanmar.

Malkan — a resident of Habibpur in Malda district — had a narrow escape on March 31 when the police laid a siege on Ranipur and Fateypur villages in Gajole. Malkan managed to escape after an encounter with the police that time and was believed to be hiding in Nepal. He used to visit Malda frequently for party work. He was also the KLO’s man in charge of operations in Malda district.

The March 31 encounter had followed the arrest of KLO member Nabanu Burman in Bangalore on March 29. During interrogation, Burman - who was brought to Malda in transit remand - had revealed that Malkan was hiding in Malda.

Malkan was earlier arrested only once in 2011, but he jumped bail after six months and went underground. He is believed to be very close to KLO chairman Jeevan Singha.

Trained in the fourth batch of KLO recruits at the Piping training camp inside Bhutan in 2000, Malkan - now in his late thirties - was wanted in many cases, including one related to firing on a passenger bus at Habibpur in Malda in the wee hours of December 27. Three persons were injured in the attack. He was also wanted in a bomb blast at Gajole on June 25 last year that killed one person.