Darjeeling, April 16: A group of
alleged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters today vandalised the house of
one GNLF leader and assaulted his party colleague at a time the ousted
outfit is trying to make a comeback in the hills.
Bhanu Lama, a
former DGHC councillor, and Deepak Gurung, the former GNLF Darjeeling
branch committee president, have been politically inactive for the last
four years.
Gurung was
assaulted outside his house, which he was forced to abandon in 2008. The
death of a Morcha supporter, Pramila Sharma, from a bullet allegedly
fired from Gurung’s house on July 25, 2008, had set off a wave of
attacks on GNLF supporters in Darjeeling.
The houses of
several of GNLF leaders, including Gurung and Lama, had been burned down
and the two were forced to flee the hills, along with party chief
Subash Ghisingh.
Gurung, who had been staying in Siliguri ever since, had just returned to Darjeeling when he was assaulted.
While Lama has not been assaulted, he alleged that Morcha activists vandalised his home.
Both GNLF leaders’ homes are in Darjeeling town.
Lama has filed an
FIR with the Darjeeling Sadar police station but Gurung tried to
downplay the incident and said he had no plan to lodge a police
complaint.
In his FIR, Lama
said a group of 25-30 men and women, led by Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha
leader Tilak Chhetri, raided his apartment, smashing windowpanes,
breaking furniture and a washbasin.
Lama has named in
the FIR Chhetri, who is also the commissioner of conservancy department
in Darjeeling municipality, Morcha activists Deepak Thapa and Pema
Pradhan. Lama had left his house near Dr Zakhir Hussian Road an hour
before the attack that took place around 12.45pm.
Other than a few
workers who were renovating the flat, nobody else was present when the
vandals struck. The mob also beat up two of the workers.
Police sources
said the same group had assaulted Gurung before proceeding to Lama’s
house, which is 500m away. Gurung was roughed up when he was about to
enter his house. The boundary wall of his house is shared by the
compound of the quarters of Damayanti Sen, the deputy inspector-general,
Darjeeling range.
Asked about the
assault, Gurung said: “Small boys had come over and it was a minor
incident. I had merely come to collect my daughter’s cupboard and some
other things. I do not plan to file and FIR.”
The police sources said Gurung, who came from Siliguri to Darjeeling today, left without taking his daughter’s belongings.
Lama had been staying in his Darjeeling home for the past few months.
The attacks have
happened at a time when the GNLF was attempting a comeback in the hills.
GNLK leaders had claimed that Morcha members had joined their party in
recent weeks. Lama today said: “I have been politically inactive for the
past four years. I fail to understand why they vandalised my house. Is
this the democracy that they (Morcha) talk about?”
He added: “I have a
house in Darjeeling and it seems I do not have the right to stay at my
own house. I had come to repair the house. They beat up the workers and
vandalised the entire room.”
Sudeep Sarkar, the
additional superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said a police picket
would be posted at Lama’s house immediately. “We have also got some
names (of the attackers) and after the verification, we will immediately
swing into action.”
Chhetri, who is
the president of the Darjeeling town committee of the Yuva Morcha,
denied the charge against him. “I know nothing about the incident and I
am not involved. My name is being unnecessarily dragged into it.”
Asked about the attacks, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “I don’t know anything about the incidents.
The Telegraph
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