Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung Monday called up the Siliguri Police Commissionerate and lodged a
verbal complaint against unidentified persons who were allegedly
extorting money from businessmen using his name.
The matter came to the fore Monday when a
Siliguri-based businessman (name withheld) called on GJM general
secretary Roshan Giri and apprised him about the goings-on.
“Yesterday, a businessman from Siliguri
called me to inform that a person taking our party president’s name
called him asking for money for party activity purposes,” said Giri.
According to the businessman, the
person, who refused to divulge his name and address, refused comply when
he was asked to hand over the phone to the GJM president.
“The businessman wanted to talk to
Gurung first, but the caller made flimsy excuses such as our president
was busy in an emergency meeting and it was not possible to speak to him
at that moment,” Giri said.
The GJM general secretary has appealed
to the traders’ fraternity not to entertain such extortion demands and
to report the matter immediately to the police.
“Some anti-social elements are trying to
take advantage and misuse our party’s name to extort money from the
business community. We appeal to all traders to report such demands to
the police. Our party does not indulge in such unscrupulous activities,”
said Giri.
However, Gurung has not recorded any written complaint with the police.
“There may be more such instances that
have not been reported, but since this was the first time that a
businessman personally called up to inform us, we have not lodged a
formal complaint. However, we will definitely do so if such demands
recur. We have spoken to the police commissioner of the Siliguri Police
Commissionerate and given him the phone number that the would-be
extortionist had used to call the businessman,” said Giri.
Siliguri police commissioner Jag Mohan
confirmed about the GJM general secretary calling him to inform about
the extortion demand. “The GJM leader called me yesterday and said some
unidentified person had demanded money from a businessman taking
Gurung’s name. However, we cannot take any action unless we receive a
written complaint. Nonetheless, we have started preliminary
investigations,” he said.
It is learnt the phone number is being
tracked to trace its origin, but not much headway has been made yet.
Efforts to call on the number went futile as the phone was switched off
till this story went to press.
Meanwhile, the Bimal Gurung has extended its best wishes to the Muslim community of the hills including the nation on the
occasion of Eid.(EOIC)