Arrest warrant out for to aid Sikkim hunt

Kinsuk Basu and Avijit Sinha, TT, Sept. 6: A Darjeeling court today issued arrest warrants against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung and seven other leaders in connection with the June 8 flare-up that triggered the ongoing agitation in the hills.

The arrest warrants are expected to help Bengal police carry out raids in Sikkim in search of Gurung. The possibility of arrest is also expected to keep the Gurung camp away from the second round of bipartite talks with the government, scheduled at Uttarkanya in Siliguri on September 12.

Last week, raids in some parts of South Sikkim had led to a standoff between the police forces of the two states. The Sikkim police had claimed that their counterparts could not furnish relevant documents, including arrest warrants, against the Morcha leaders.

The warrants have been issued in response to a CID plea that coincided with signs of defiance of the strike in pockets of the hills and a audio message from Gurung who appealed to Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa, two Morcha leaders who had been "expelled" earlier for announcing a pause in the strike, to "amend mistakes" and "return" to the party.

Besides Gurung, the arrest warrants from the chief judicial magistrate's court of Darjeeling cover Asha, Gurung's wife who is the convener of Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha; Roshan Giri, Morcha general secretary; Prakash Gurung and Amrit Yonzon, president and general secretary of the Yuva Morcha; D.K. Pradhan, chairman of Darjeeling municipality; Tilak Roka, the adviser to the Darjeeling-Terai-Dooars Plantation Workers' Union (the trade union wing of the Morcha); and Ashok Chhetri, a Morcha leader.

On June 8, the Bengal government had to call in the army to contain violence after Morcha supporters clashed with police and set vehicles on fire when the chief minister was holding a cabinet meeting 200 metres away.

On June 9, the police had filed a case at Darjeeling Sadar police station and the investigation was subsequently handed over to the CID.

A section of officers claimed they had gathered evidence to show how the Morcha supporters had turned up well-armed on the fateful day to attack the police and Gurung allegedly didn't stop them from preparing for a pitched battle.

The warrant against Gurung comes within five days of Bengal police issuing a lookout notice on the Morcha leader, Giri and Prakash Gurung.

"The arrest warrant means any state, wherever the accused may be hiding, would be bound by law to hand them over to the CID of Bengal," a senior CID officer said.