The police have filed two cases against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung and several other GJM leaders under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the past 24 hours.
The GJM leaders were booked on Saturday night over a grenade attack on the Kalimpong Police Station. One policeman was killed in the attack while one was injured, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma said.
They were also charged over a bomb attack earlier in the day in Darjeeling’s Chowk Bazar area. Apart from Mr. Gurung, GJM leaders Prakash Gurung, Praveen Subba, Barud Thapa, Dawa Lepcha and others have been named by the police.
GJM leader Swaraj Thapa denied the allegation and said “those who are against the demand of Gorkhaland are behind the incident”.
Meanwhile, GJM president Bimal Gurung has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and denied the allegations made against him and other leaders in the Chowk Bazar incident.
“The blast,” the GJM leader suspects, “is the handiwork of the Bengal government to bring disrepute to the Gorkhaland cause and our leaders and to portray our movement as being anti-national”.
Trinamool Congress Darjeeling district president Rajen Mukhia dismissed Mr. Gurung’s claims.
