Tamang murder accused Nicole Tamang escapes from CID custody

KOLKATA/SILIGURI: Police have let Nicole Tamang — the only prime suspect arrested in the murder of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) leader Madan Tamang — slip through their fingers three days before they planned to file the chargesheet. Exactly a week after his arrest, Nicole escaped from the CID custody in Pintail village near Siliguri on Sunday morning.

Police, left red-faced, hurriedly suspended a sub-inspector and a constable. But the police version of how Nicole fled raises more questions. The CID claims Nicole — a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) central committee member and a trusted aide of Bimal Gurung — ran away when he was taken out to relieve himself. Nicole was being interrogated in a duplex building in the model tourist village, where every floor has an attached toilet. So why was he taken to a toilet in the rear of the building? And why was there only one constable escorting him?

The incident had an immediate impact on the turbulent hill politics, with both ABGL calling a 24-hour shutdown on Tuesday, and GJM calling an indefinite bandh from 6pm on Sunday.

The district police refused to take any responsibility for the escape as Nicole was in the CID custody. ‘‘We are waiting for a complaint from the CID,’’ said IG, North Bengal, Ranveer Kumar.

Nicole was arrested from his native village Kaijaley in Darjeeling, close to Sikkim, on August 16. He had been on the run ever since his cellphone was found at the Tamang murder site on May 21. Nicole was in the CID custody since August 18. Sources said he used to be locked up at Pradhan Nagar police station at night, and taken to the CID camp office (duplex 31) in Pintail tourist village for interrogation during the day. The district police provided transit security.

During interrogation on Saturday, Nicole apparently agreed to show the investigators hideouts of his aides who had taken an active role in Tamang’s murder. CID officers took him along on several raids but drew a blank. Suspecting that they had been taken for a ride, CID officers brought him back to Pintail for an all-night interrogation, say sources.

Around 6am, Nicole sought permission to go to the toilet. A CID constable reportedly took him to a toilet to the rear of the building although there was one on the same floor.

Source: TNN