Bengal CID arrests four cadres of new militant group after leader boasts of launch on social media

The West Bengal CID on Saturday arrested four people from Naxalbari in Darjeeling district on charges of launching a militant organisation called Greater Coochbehar Liberation Organisation (GCLO) after the alleged leader boasted of his plans on social media.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police on Saturday arrested four people from Naxalbari in Darjeeling district on charges of launching a militant organisation called Greater Coochbehar Liberation Organisation (GCLO) after the alleged leader boasted of his plans on social media.

File photo of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. Police are probing whether the new group has connections to KLO. (HT Photo)

Their stated objective was formation of Kamtapur/Greater Coochbehar state by means of armed rebellion, the CID claimed in a statement.

Kamtapur is a proposed state for the Rajbongshi community to be carved out of six north Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda; and four districts of Assam — Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.

Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP), a political outfit set up in 1996, and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), a militant group set up in 1995, have been campaigning for Kamtapur state. CID officers are trying to find out whether GCLO had any links with KPP and KLO.

Those arrested were identified as Nirmal Roy (30), Kandarpa Das (23), Ratan Adhikary (28) and Dipi Prasad Roy (18). According to CID officers, Nirmal Roy claimed to be the chief of the organisation.

Kandarpa Das (23), one of the arrested.

“A few days ago Nirmal Roy of Assam posted on Facebook and YouTube that he launched a new terrorist organisation called Greater Coochbehar Liberation Organisation. CID kept track and deployed a decoy to invite him for a meeting where he was arrested,” said a CID press release.

The CID also said that Nirmal Roy had called a bandh on July 31 and had threatened to bomb railway tracks and government offices. A case was registered at Naxalbari police station.

Kamtapur was a sovereign state from approximately the middle of the 13th century to almost the end of the 15th century.