CALCUTTA(PTI): Punjab police are chasing and hunting down Suspected militants and their family members living in Bengal, _ The question that is uppermost in the peoples’ mind of the people is the Punjab police able to move about with immunity in Bengal to hunt down residents of that state,
The issue came to the fore, particularly after the killing of a couple Supposed to be having militants links, inside their Tiljala residence al cast Calcutta on May 17 by Punjab police.
Recently in a swift predawn operation the Punjab police team, came in a maruti Gypsy, sped off with the bodies after killing them. However, the west Bengal police, who are baffled at the operation reportedly launched without their knowledge have neither denied nor confirmed the involvement of the Punjab police in killing of the couple,
The DIG (CID), B.P.Singh said that Basir Ahmed who was shot at, Was a militant of the banned Babbar Khalsa and the woman was his wife. The recovery of a cyanide capsule from a shirt pocket inside the house during a search further confirmed their involvement in such activities, he said.
Despite the arrest of seven “so called” militants in the state on May 20, the police have refused to admit that west Bengal had become a haven for the militants, “They are not hardcore terrorists, but people who are trying to escape the state of terror that has been unleashed by the Punjab Po lice on any Sikh family suspected of links with militants.
Pointing to the involvement of four Punjabis arrested on May 20 in looting a rifle and a musket from a police outpost under Suti police station in Murshidabad district on April 26, Sengupta asked why should they resort to such overt action and make the local police suspicious, if they were re ally militants,
A senior police officer, who preferred anonymity said that the north 24 Parganas district with a sizeable Punjabi population was a haven for militants who wanted to escape the murderous killer squads of KPS Gill. Over the cars the state had become ‘a sanctuary.
Police sources said that militants after arriving in west Bengal pro cured fake driving licenses and worked as drivers and helpers. The D.C, (SB) said that a Granthi (one who reads the scriptures) of a Gurdwara in the north 24 Parganas, in the vicinity of the city, was reportedly coordinating the activities, Alarmed by the frequent reports Of militants taking shelter in the “State, the police had geared up to combat the situation and an alert had been sounded on there movements.
Admitting that there were possibilities of such groups hiding around’ the city, the deputy commissioner (detective department), Gautam Chakraborty said that police stations had been alerted and a search was on to track them down,
An “antiterrorist” cell has been created in the special branch of the city police to monitor and scan information about the movement of militants, from different intelligence agencies,
Sengupta said that the S.B. received regular reports from the C.B.I., Chandigarh, regarding “hardcore” and “non hardcore terrorists” on the basis of interrogation reports.
Apart from the Punjabis, the cell, he said, also kept close watch on the movements of the organizations from the states of Kashmir, Assam, and Sri Lanka.
Although west Bengal did not witness much “terrorist” activities, police reports indicated that a number of top militants have been taking shelter in the city since 1991.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 11, 1993
