West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has reportedly assured Bharati Tamang, wife of Darjeeling hills leader Madan Tamang, that justice will be done and those responsible for his murder in Darjeeling on May 21 would be brought to book.
“We came here to seek justice and were promised by the Chief Minister that justice will be done,” Ms. Tamang, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), told TheHindu after a meeting with Mr. Bhattacharjee here on Wednesday.
“None will be let off the hook we were promised,” said Ms. Tamang, who was accompanied by a few senior ABGL leaders. “The culprits and those who masterminded the dastardly fatal attack on my husband will be arrested, we were assured,” she said.
“We reiterated our demand for an inquiry into the killing by the CBI, but were told that the State's Criminal Investigation Department that is carrying out the investigations was competent enough to do what is required and was progressing with the case,” said Ms. Tamang, who described her talks with Mr. Bhattacharjee as “fruitful.”
The ABGL, which is one of the major regional parties in the Darjeeling hills that is opposed to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), principal political force in the region, has accused the latter of being behind Tamang's murder.
“We informed the Chief Minister of the absence of law and order in the hills. People there are being terrorised and harassed, with the GJM calling for frequent bandhs,” Ms. Tamang who took over as ABGL president after her husband's murder said.
GJM relaxes strike
Meanwhile, the GJM leadership that had called an indefinite strike in the Darjeeling hills from June 19 in protest against alleged “police atrocities on innocent people,” relaxed the stir for 48 hours on Wednesday.
“We have relaxed the strike considering the interests of the people. It will be resumed indefinitely from June 25 till our demands for the transfer of the sub-divisional police officer, Kurseong, and the removal of B.L. Meena, administrator, Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), are met,” GJM assistant general secretary Benoy Tamang told TheHindu over telephone from Darjeeling.
Though it was claimed that the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) — a force raised by the GJM — would not vacate camps set up in the DGHC bungalows in different parts of the hills, State's Municipal Affairs Minister Ashok Bhattacharya said the process of eviction of the GLP from places where they were illegally quartered would continue.
