What’s stopping arrest, asks mom - Nickole’s family questions CBI version

Darjeeling, June 24: Nickole Tamang’s mother has questioned the motive behind the CBI’s inability to arrest him specially when it had so much details on his whereabouts. In a report submitted to the Calcutta High Court yesterday, the CBI had said Nickole, a prime accused in the Madan Tamang murder case, was hiding in Pashupatinagar in Nepal. He had entered the neighbouring country on March 15 this year with two of his aides. The agency had also said after Nickole’s escape from a CID camp at Pintail in Siliguri on August 22, 2010, he had visited several places in south India, including Kochi and Coimbatore. Nickole, a central committee member of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, had also hid himself in a tea garden in Darjeeling. “I promise on my four-and-a- half-year-old granddaughter that there has been no communication with my son. I will be happy if he is again in custody as I will then know that he is alive. Why couldn’t the CBI arrest him if they know so much about his whereabouts,” said Bina Tamang. “I want my son to be produced alive. This is all I want at the moment.” Nickole Tamang’s house in Singamari. Picture by Suman Tamang After Nickole’s disappearance, his wife Pema Tamang had filed a habeas corpus petition before the court demanding that the CID produce him in person. The CBI, however, took over the investigation in December last year. “We were hopeful that the CBI would be able to unearth the truth about the incident. They visited us twice and we also gave them our cellphone numbers,” Pema said. ABGL leader Madan Tamang was killed by a khukuri-wielding mob on May 21 last year. The murder case is alo being investigated by the CBI. Bina said the last time she had met Nickole was on August 18, 2010 when he was in CID custody. “After that I have had no communication with him. I long to hear his voice. Once the case was transferred to the CBI, I was hopeful (that we would see him), and I am still hopeful. I still trust the agency and hope that they will unearth the truth,” the mother said. Even though the CBI yesterday sought six weeks’ time to re-arrest Nickole, the bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice Asim Kumar Roy has directed the agency to produce him in court within four weeks. Himangshu Dey, the advocate representing the CBI, told the court that the agency was trying to get the Interpol to issue a red-corner notice so that it could send a team to Nepal to arrest Nickole. The CBI had earlier announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for information that could lead to Nickole’s arrest. Questions, however, are being raised on whether the CBI can arrest Nickole from Nepal within four weeks, specially after the wide publicity of the case and the agency’s disclosure that the murder accused is holed up in Nepal. “If the accused is in Nepal will he not escape from that country given the wide publicity of the case,” is the common refrain in the hills. The Indo-Nepal border is unfenced and porous. The Telegraph