Darjeeling, May 23: Two days after the murder of ABGL president Madan Tamang, police fear that the main accused, all members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s frontal organisations, have taken shelter in neighbouring Sikkim.

K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general of police, north Bengal, said: “We believe that the six named in the FIR for being directly involved in the murder have crossed over to Sikkim. I have spoken to the police officials in Sikkim and joint raids will be conducted along the border areas.”

The six named in the FIR lodged by ABGL general secretary Laxman Pradhan are Alokkant Mani Thulung, Puran Thami (youth wing leaders), Kismat Chhetri and Keshav Raj Pokhral (student leaders), Tenzing Khambachay and Dinesh Gurung (both town committee members). Seven others, including Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, have also been named in the FIR for indulging in criminal conspiracy.

However, the police arrested Sangay Tshering Bhutia, president of the Janmukti Hotel Owners’ Association, from Kurseong last night. Bhutia was named in an FIR lodged by Dawa Sherpa, state secretary of the BJP, for vandalising his hotel-cum-residence on Gandhi Road on Friday. Bhutia, who was released today on bail by the Darjeeling judicial magistrate, has been asked to report at the local police station once a week.

While peace marches with lighted candles continued today, Anmole Prasad, a Kalimpong-based lawyer and Morcha spokesperson for the first three rounds of tripartite talks between the party, Centre and the state, said he “would no longer be attached to the Morcha” after the “heinous and inconsolable murder of Madan Tamang”.

Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri, too, said if anyone from the outfit was implicated in the murder, he would quit the party.

Sukman Moktan, secretary general of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, an apolitical organisation with a pan-Indian reach, today demanded that “all private armies and forces be banned”. He was referring to the Gorkhaland Personnel, a voluntary force raised by the Morcha. The CPRM also has a “force”, the Sawamsevak Bahini. “Political parties in the hills have private armies and forces. These must be banned immediately. We also demand a CBI inquiry into the killing,” said Moktan.

The Morcha has appealed to hill residents to keep their business establishments shut for a day in Darjeeling tomorrow as a mark of respect to Tamang. The ABGL leader’s funeral will take place in Meghma, 35km from Darjeeling, tomorrow.

Source: The Telegraph

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION TO COUNTER FRANKENSTEIN !!!!
No amount of cursing and abuse will touch a single hair of the leaders of GJM. What we all need to do is start an underground movement (as above the ground will surely get us six inches short!). Each one of us need to start making pamphlets and letters of protests and start distributing them. That's a start. As we gain momentum and support from all the peace loving people of Darjeeling who have had enough of this tyrannical animal called GJM, a prodigy of GNLF, you will see that the power of the people will not let the DEVILS rule our people. These corrupt individuals have kept us all hostages. They have been playing on our sentiments for far too long. We have got to come up with concrete ideas and plans to deal with them now. Millions of rupees are being poured into their coffers making them even more able to practice terror. Neither the Center nor the State will come to look out for us. We are on our own and we need to start realizing that. We have got to support another party even if it is the CPRM for now. We just cannot make them any more stronger than they are at present. Otherwise it will be even more difficult later to do anything. And we will be waiting for 20 years or more to invite another Hitler to step in and repeat the cycle all over again. By supporting another party we will at least be strengthening an opposition with a different view. And the base of the CPRM isn't that bad if you care to find out about it. We need to support a revolutionary group who will fight for Gorkhaland and at the same time support a group who are at least there as a legitimate party. If for those of you who do not like the idea, my plea is to find out more about the CPRM before jumping to any conclusions. ARISE AWAKE AND DO SOMETHING!!!!