Questions over death of student leader of Namchi : Death of Padam Gurung political murder, says SDF

The Sikkim's leading opposition party, Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) today said that the death of student leader Padam Gurung is a 'political murder.' The SDF also accused the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) of shielding the perpetrators. 

PRAKASH ADHIKARI, EOI, GANGTOK, JULY 16, 2023 : The Sikkim Democratic Front has claimed the death of student leader of Namchi Government College Padam Gurung to be a 'political murder,' accusing Sikkim Government and Sikkim Police of trying to 'save a high profile person' by claiming that Padam Gurung's death was an 'unnatural death' and not a murder. SDF has dismissed the different committees formed by the government to investigate into the death has delaying tactic, demanding a CBI investigation in the death of student leader from Namchi 

Addressing news persons at the party office on Sunday, SDF spokesperson Rikzing Bhutia said: "The only reason the death of Padam Gurung has not been solved is because the Sikkim Police and the government are trying to save a high profile individual who is being backed by the government.

To save the person, the Sikkim Police are trying to frame Padam Gurung's death as an unnatural death, instead of murder. We fear it may be apolitical murder. There is no association between Padam Gurung and SDF. We want to make that clear. Even though he is nota part of our party, we fear this is a political murder. The killer is not being apprehended but being saved.

"SDF did not attach significance to the recently formed one man judicial inquiry formed by the State government to investigate Padam Gurung's death.

They demanded a CBI investigation into the student leader's death, claiming, "The government has been forming committee after committee instead of solving this case. It began with a district investigation team, then special investigation team, there after a judicial inquiry committee. 

These are being formed merely to delay justice. For an independent investigation, they must hand over the case to the CBI. So far, nothing from the police is convincing. 

This is a one-sided investigation currently as there is pressure from the government on the case. And even the final report of judicial inquiry will be based on investigations of the police who are denying statements from eyewitnesses. 

They are denying uncensored evidence which is already in public domain that point towards the death being a murder. Hence, seeing the helplessness of Sikkim Police in solving the case, we demand CBI investigation".

Earlier, even Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay has promised a CBI inquiry in the Padam Gurung's death case, if the police investigation was not satisfying. The SDF spokesman went on to allege that statements of some of the eyewitnesses taken by the Sikkim Police had been denied on the pretext that they were lying. "In one viral audio clip narrating the crime, two friends of Padam Gurung have been named in the statement. But the police claimed the entire audio clip to be of a different incident that had conveniently occurred on the same night in the same pub. The injuries that Padam Gurung had sustained and where his body was found had all been narrated in the audio clip, but this is being overlooked by the Sikkim Police as a statement. Why?

”The SDF spokesman also claimed that the Sikkim Police were threatening the eye witnesses as if they were the culprits, while blatantly denying evidences. He also questioned the functioning of CCTV cameras set up under Namchi Smart City, claiming that those cameras that were at the scene of crime, had been conveniently declared to be not working by the Sikkim Police; denying clean evidence in the case. 

 The SDF also questioned the mass transfer of Sikkim Police officials, again conveniently those officers from Namchi district who were involved in the investigation, while also questioning why a top level officer from Sikkim Police had not come in public to address the death.