North Bengal development minister Udayan Guha on Wednesday received a letter purportedly from a faction of proscribed terror outfit Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), demanding Rs 5 crore from him.
“This morning, I received a letter via Whatsapp where they asked for the money. I have filed a police complaint,” the minister said.
Guha is the MLA of Dinhata in Cooch Behar.
The letter, which Guha posted to social media, has been sent by KLO (KN) and bears the signatures of its self-styled leaders Wangchu Koch and Karang Koch. Guha has to pay the money within 10 days, says the letter.
According to sources, the new faction has become active ever since Jibon Singha, who used to head the KLO, returned to Assam from Myanmar last year.
“The group had earlier sent letters to businessmen in Assam, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, asking for monetary help. Some members of the group, who tried to extort money from people, were arrested in Assam and also by the special task force of Bengal police in Alipurduar,” said a senior police officer.
In Cooch Behar district, two cases were lodged at Kotwali and Buxirhat police stations in October last year after the outfit had sent a similar extortion letter to a trader, demanding Rs 10 lakh from him.
“We started a probe and arrested a suspect Manojit Barma from Dispur in March this year. Harishankar Barman, a co-accused, was also arrested,” the police officer said.
Based on Guha’s complaint, the police have started an investigation. “We are collecting details about the outfit and trying to find out whether anybody in this region has links with it,” said the officer.
