Top KLO leader held in West Bengal

In a prize catch, a top leader of the underground Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) was arrested from West Bengal's Malda district, police said today.
Malkhan Singh alias Madhav Mondal, who has over 10 cases related to terrorist activities pending against him, was captured last night from a jungle near Jamalpur village under Habibpur police station, Superintendent of Police Rupesh Kumar said.
On receiving a tip-off that Malkhan Singh was hiding in a jungle near Jamalpur, a police team cordoned off the village and nabbed him.
One automatic rifle, ammunition and cash were seized from the militant, the SP said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Sumitra Dev remanded Singh to 14-day police custody when he was produced before the court.

DIG (Malda range) Satyajit Bandyopadhyay described Singh's arrest as a major success for the police.

Singh was arrested in the murder case of a CPI(M) leader in 2006, but was released on bail. The KLO leader then jumped the bail.
He is accused in an explosion and of shooting at a running bus in Malda and another blast in Jalpaiguri in the past two years, the DIG said.
Singh had been a cause of worry for the security of ministers and other political leaders of the district, Bandyopadhyay said.
Police had been after Singh for a long time and had posted look-out notices for him. On receiving information that the militant was sighted in a village in Habibpur 10 days ago, police had gone there, but Singh had given them the slip, the SP said.

KLO was formed in 1995 with the objective of carving out a separate Kamtapur state comprising six districts-- Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur and Malda--of West Bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam--Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.