'Raid' ire In Morcha

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Nov. 18: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has directed its three MLAs to find from "whichever level" the reason behind yesterday's alleged police raids on two houses in Tukvar, the constituency of GTA Sabha chief executive Bimal Gurung.

The police have denied conducting any raid yesterday, but said they were patrolling Tukvar as they had information that GTA elected member Sanjay Thulung, wanted in an arms haul case registered in Assam, was in the area.

The arms and ammunition were seized in Assam on November 8 and were allegedly meant for Thulung, two persons arrested in the case have said, according to police sources in the neighbouring state.

The Morcha today called an "emergency meeting" of the central committee to discuss the "raid" on the houses of Jaspal Gazmer and Dinesh Theeng yesterday.

The meeting was presided over by Morcha vice-president R.P. Waiba as party chief Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri are away in Varanasi.

Raju Pradhan, assistant secretary of the Morcha, said: "We do not know why raids are being conducted there. We have directed our three MLAs to find out from whichever level, the reason behind the raids. Since the Morcha is the largest political power (in the hills), it is our responsibility to find out the reason behind the raids."

The Morcha today said a schoolgirl was harassed by the police in one of the homes they allegedly raided.

D.K. Pradhan, a Morcha central committee member, said: "We want to find out if any case has been registered against the people whose houses are being searched."

Pradhan said the police had misbehaved with a student at Gazmer's house. "These are serious issues concerning human rights," he said.

Police sources have said the force could raid a house in the state without registering a case as part of a probe in another state.

Gazmer's family members said the police had not only raided the house but also ransacked it yesterday evening.

Theeng's family said the police had entered and raided the house in the morning but in the evening, they stood outside the gate and threatened to take Theeng's wife to the police station for interrogation if he did not surrender.

Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi, the Darjeeling SP, said the allegations were "baseless".