Special task force brings two arrested militants of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation from Assam

Uttam Roy and Nirmal Das are both residents of Kokrajhar district

Representational Picture : File Picture

TT Correspondent   |   Siliguri   |    24.08.22 : The special task force (STF) of Bengal police brought in two arrested militants of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) from Assam on Tuesday to get information about the banned militant group.

Uttam Roy and Nirmal Das were arrested a couple of months ago in Assam. Both are residents of Kokrajhar district in Assam.

Sources in the STF said in May this year that Pavel Koch, the self-styled foreign secretary of KLO, had called up a rice wholesaler of Kokrajhar and demanded Rs 2 lakh.

When the trader refused, these two militants allegedly reached his place in early June and fired at him, leaving him injured. The duo fled but were arrested the next day. A case was filed against them with Serfanguri police of Assam..

In Bengal, the STF arrested some other militants of the outfit earlier this year as they reached the state to allegedly extort money from the business community and gather arms and ammunition.

“The three KLO militants  arrested from different places of Siliguri early this year spoke about Uttam and Nirmal during interrogation. We contacted the Assam police and brought them here today (Tuesday) to collect more information about the outfit,” said a source in STF.

For the past few months, the KLO has been trying to regroup. There are reports that it inducted many new recruits.

Sources said Uttam and Nirmal were initially members of the All Koch Rajbanshi Students’ Union (AKRASU) in Assam, and came in direct contact with Jeevan Singha, the KLO chief, and Koch.

Both were produced at a local court here on Tuesday. The court heard the case and sent both of them in police custody for 12 days.