Ulfa’s Kalita (left) and KLO’s Adhikary

Mathabhanga (Cooch Behar), Sept. 23: Police have established that three top Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) militants were involved in the abduction of Nishiganj hardware merchant Gopal Debnath last Saturday night even as the toll in the firing climbed to four.

Dipak Barman, who was injured when the militants opened fire while fleeing with Debnath, died in the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital today.

Inspector-general of police (north Bengal) Bhupinder Singh, who visited the Nishiganj market today, said: “We have identified three Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) militants and one from the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) as those who carried out the abduction and then sprayed bullets indiscriminately in the crowded market place. We have computer-generated images of these four and they will be displayed in police stations in the area.”

Singh visited the market along with the police superintendents of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, Siddh Nath Gupta and Praveen Kumar. “The abduction followed by the shooting spree was aimed to create terror in the area. It resembles a typical Ulfa operation,” he said.

He said the incident clearly indicated that the KLO was actively seeking the Ulfa’s help and their experience to carry out this kind of operation.

“Chhota Bijoy alias Jagdish Basunia, Milton Barman alias Mihir Das and Tom Adhikary were the three KLO militants who took part in the operation. Animesh Kalita alias Animesh Kakoty, an Ulfa extremist, was also linked to the operation,” Singh said. The three KLO men head the outfit’s action squad and are on the most-wanted list of the police.

These KLO men had carried out the attack on the CPM Dhupguri office in Jalpaiguri district in August last year, in which five men were mowed down. They are also behind the abduction of Pradip Sarkar, the son of Assam MLA Chandan Sarkar, from Falakata last year. Pradip was returned by the KLO at Kumargramduar early this year.

Police, meanwhile, have released four men from among the 41 they had detained for questioning. They are still interrogating the remaining 37 as they believe some of them could be the pointmen of the rebels.

“If we do not succeed in getting rid of the militant hideouts in Bhutan, we cannot aim for a permanent solution to the problem of militancy in north Bengal,” Singh said.

He added that the Centre was getting in touch with the Bangladesh government as the police believe that the four have escaped into that country after the Nishiganj incident.

In continuing protests against the abduction, the Trinamul Congress today held an hour-long, district-wide road blockade agitation from 10 am to press for Debnath’s rescue. “We have carried out the blockade to protest against the total inefficiency of the police in preventing these activities,” said Rabindranath Ghosh, Cooch Behar party secretary.

Even the Left Front is not taking the Nishiganj violence lightly. The Cooch Behar Front committee has called a public meeting on September 28 at the Nishiganj Junior High School grounds to protest against the attack. State ministers from the district Kamal Guha and Dinesh Dakua will speak at the meeting.