A central committee member of Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP), which is spearheading the demand for a separate Kamtapur state, has been arrested from Cooch Behar on Sunday in connection with the bicycle bomb blast here that claimed six lives.
Nubas Burman, the general secretary of KPP central committee, was arrested from his home at Toofanganj in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on Sunday in connection with the December 26 blast, Jalpaiguri superintendent of police Amit P Javalgi said on Monday. Mr.Burman is the second person to be arrested in connection with the blast at Bajrapara here. One person was arrested from Moynaguri in Jalpaiguri district on Saturday.
The SP said some persons have been detained for questioning in connection with the bicycle bomb blast. The blast is suspected to have been carried out by the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), a group fighting for separate Kamtapur state.
Mr.Burman had been arrested in 2002 on charges of being a KLO linkman but was released the next year.
Before being produced at a court here on Monday, he alleged that he was arrested in order to scuttle the agitation for a separate Kamtapur state to be carved out of north Bengal and some Assam districts. He also denied any links with KLO or the blast.
The district administration has slapped prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in areas of Jalpaiguri town since Sunday in view of KPP’s programme to gherao the divisional commissioner’s office during the day in support of its demand.
