Jalpaiguri, Dec. 28: The KLO’s captured vice-president, Harshavardhan Das, today revealed that he had met Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa in Myanmar in 1995 along with his boss Jeevan Singha to seek support in building up a guerrilla outfit that would fight for a Kamtapur state.

Jalpaiguri superintendent of police Siddh Nath Gupta said: “During the interrogation, Harshavardhan Das said he had accompanied Jeevan Singha to Myanmar in 1995 to meet Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa at a National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M) camp and put forward the proposal of forming a militant outfit to fight for a separate Kamtapur state. He also claimed to have seen three People’s War Group rebels attending the Ulfa’s Raising Day function on April 7, 1997. The event is held every year at the Ulfa central headquarters in the Samdrup Jongkhar district of Bhutan.”

According to the district police chief, the duo had first headed for Gossaingaon in Assam’s Kokrajhar district in September 1993 where they discussed the KLO proposal with Bhaskar Kalita, the chairman of Ulfa’s Kokrajhar district committee.

Kalita later accompanied them to Saudangi, on the fringes of Siliguri town, where a meeting was held to finalise the formation of a militant outfit to fight for a separate state for the Rajbanshis through armed struggle.

Those attending the meet were members of the All Kamtapur Students’ Union, disillusioned with the organisation’s ideology of fighting for a Kamtapur state through “democratic means”.

In April 1994, eight youths were selected by Jeevan and Harshavardhan to visit the Ulfa central headquarters to earn support for the proposed outfit. The mission failed with the Central Reserve Police Force spotting them on the border and chasing them back. In Assam, Kalita surrendered, dealing a blow to all the plans.

With no other option, Jeevan and Harshavardhan contacted Debojyoti Sinha — an Ulfa leader operating in lower Assam — who took them to Naogaon in Bhutan and introduced them to Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia. The two managed to secure an appointment with Ulfa chief Rajkhowa, who is now in a Bangladeshi jail.

In July 1995, ULFA militant Pahar Singh met them. “He escorted the duo to an NSCN (I-M) camp in Myanmar. Rajkhowa promised them funds and arms-training to build up a guerrilla force. The two had stayed there for three months. They returned at the end of 1995 and called an AKSU meeting at Salkumarhat in January 1996. Here everything was finalised. The KLO was formed,” Gupta said.

Jeevan Singha, would have received gun salutes from cadets at the Piping camp today, the outfit’s raising day, had it not been for the Bhutan army.

Many feel the event is being observed in Bangladesh, where most of the militants are suspected to have fled. Singha is also reportedly holed up there. This is the first time in 10 years since its formation that the outfit is not celebrating the day at the Piping camp in Kalikhola.