Monday, August 31, 2009

KLO No. 2, wife arrested in Assam

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UWAHATI/KOKRAJHAR/KOLKATA: After waging an armed struggle for nearly 15 years seeking a separate Kamtapur state, the Kamtapur Liberation
Organization (KLO) suffered a body blow late on Saturday night when securitymen arrested the outfit's second man in command and his wife following an encounter in Assam's Kokrajhar district.

"Second lieutenant" Dhananjay Barman and his wife, Sumitra Das, had reportedly masterminded serial blasts on Haldibari Passenger Train at Belakoba in north Bengal's Jalpaiguri district in 2006. Eight people had died in the blasts.

Incidentally, Sumitra is the sister of KLO chief and founder Jibon Singha and is the only woman of the outfit to have gone to Bangladesh for training in guerrilla warfare.

Dhananjay, the zonal commander of KLO and number two in its hierarchy after Jibon, had, along with Sumitra, sneaked into the northeastern state two months ago from their Khagracharri hideout in Chittagong, Bangladesh. They were strengthening the banned outfit's base in Assam's Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts and various areas in north Bengal.

Police said Dhananjay suffered a bullet injury in the encounter between KLO militants and personnel of Kokrajhar police and Panbari-based 19 Madras Regiment at Part 11 Maoriagaon village near Chandrashila wildlife sanctuary. He was admitted to a nursing home in Bongaigaon, while Sumitra and her son, who was present when his parents were arrested, were brought to the Kokrajhar police station.

Acting on a tip-off, police said, the security personnel raided Part II Maoriagoan village and found Dhananjay and Sumitra taking shelter in the house of Dalim Choudhury. On seeing the police and armymen, Dhanajay started firing at them and tried to flee, but in vain. He was hit in his stomach in the retaliatory firing by the security forces, who arrested the couple.

An Italy-made 7.65 pistol, a magazine, four rounds of ammunition, five SIM cards, including three of Bangladesh, two mobile phones and a note of Taka 100 were found on Sumitra, defence spokesman Col R Kalia said.

Talking to the media at Kokrajhar police station on Sunday, Sumitra said she, along with about 40 KLO members, had gone to Bangladesh during the 2003 offensive launched by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) to flush out Indian militant outfits holed up in that country.

Dhananjay, who hails from Coochbehar district, was a member of the third batch cadre of KLO and completed training in a Bhutan camp during 1998-1999.

Earlier in March 2009, Dhananjay entered India and tried to extort money from some traders at Barabisha in Jalpaiguri and at Golakgunge in Assam.

Till date, the biggest setback for the KLO was during the Bhutanese offensive when the RBA destroyed its camps along the Indo-Bhutanese border and captured many of its senior leaders. But along with some top Ulfa and NDFB leaders, Jibon had then managed to flee the Himalayan kingdom and took shelter in Bangladesh.

Since 1995, KLO has been waging an armed struggle for a separate Kamtapur state comprising Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North and South Dinajpur districts of West bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.

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