Interim bail in one case granted to GJM asst secy Binay Tamang

EOIC, Darjeeling, 6 October 2013: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha assistant secretary and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration sabhasad Binay Tamang was today granted interim bail in one of the four cases slapped on him.

Tamang, who has been elected chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, was arrested on August 23 from the Bengal-Sikkim border on the charge of torching a forest guest house in Takdah on the night of August 1. A bail plea had been placed by his lawyer before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Darjeeling on the Takdah case.

“Since the investigation material was incomplete, the court granted bail to Tamang on the Takdah case. We have also filed bai petitions for other cases pending against him,” informed defence lawyer Dinesh Chandra Rai after the bail announcement.

It may be noted GJM president Bimal Gurung launched a fresh statehood agitation in July-end after the Union government approved of a Telangana state. This led to a sudden change in the state-of-affairs in the Darjeeling hills, and on August 1, the Takdah guest house where chief minister Mamata Banerjee had stayed some months earlier, was set on fire allegedly by GJM supporters. A similar attempt was also made on the Rimbick-Lodhoma guest house, but ended in failure.

The GJM assistant secretary had 11 cases against him and has been granted bail on all except four, which include the Takdah and Rimbick-Lodhoma incidents. Of the remaining two cases, one is related to the Shipchu firing incident in Jalpaiguri district and the second is a Darjeeling-related case.

“There is one more case in Darjeeling for which we have made a bail plea and the hearing is on October 9. We will apply for bail on the Jalpaiguri case on October 7,” said Tamang’s lawyer.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Pankaj Prasad acknowledged it was lack of material evidence in the Takdah case investigations that prompted the CJM court to grant Tamang interim bail. “We did put up objections but they were all rejected,” he said, adding the bail plea on the

Rimbick-Lodhama case was rejected and the next hearing has been fixed for October 9.

The interim bail to Tamang is conditional, and though still behind bars, the court has directed he should not leave the jurisdiction of Darjeeling area without its permission, informed Prasad further.