Calcutta High Court overturns decision to drop Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung as accused in murder case

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to include the name of Bimal Gurung, leader of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), as an accused in the 2010 Madan Tamang murder case [Bharati Tamang v. Central Bureau of Investigation and Another]..Justice Subhendu Samanta said that the complicity of Gurung in the murder of the Tamang, the leader of All India Gorkha League, was sufficiently established."It is quite impermissible to discharge an accused from a criminal case where his name is directly stated by the available witnesses regarding his involvement in the alleged offence. Bimal Gurung was cited as a leader of other Accused Persons. Thus complicity against Bimal Gurung has been sufficiently established at this Stage," the High Court observed.Thus, it set aside the order of a lower court which had discharged and dropped Gurung from the case."Learned Chief Judge City Sessions Court has committed error by separating / segregating Bimal Gurung from other accused person. The value evidences are similar to that all the other accused persons and Bimal Gurung; merely not collecting CDR of Bimal Gurung cannot itself exonerate him from the direct allegation of criminal conspiracy," the High Court said..Tamang was killed on May 21, 2010, just before he was slated to address a public meeting, which many said would reveal details of politics in Darjeeling with regard to the demand for separate statehood for Gorkhas. The Gurung-led Morcha was at the forefront of Darjeeling politics. Tamang had been alleging that Gurung and his Morcha would accept an autonomous council with the name Gorkhaland, and they were insincere about the statehood demand. The CID was initially probing the case. But after Nicol Tamang, a member of the Morcha and a prime accused, escaped from CID custody, the case was handed over to the CBI. In May 2015, the CBI in its chargesheet accused Gurung and 47 of his aides in the case, which included his wife Asha and politicians like Roshan Giri and Binay Tamang. In 2017, the lower court dropped Gurung from the chargesheet, stating that the CBI had not given enough evidence against him.Tamang’s wife Bharati and CBI then approached the High Court in 2017 and filed a revision petition against the lower court's order to drop Gurung from the chargesheet..The High Court noted that culpability against Gurung stood sufficiently established as all the witnesses had stated that he had threatened the deceased and also held meetings with other accused persons to commit the said crime."At this juncture how far the charge of conspiracy against Bimar Gurung would be proved in trial, cannot be ascertained at the stage u/s 227 Cr.P.C. but it can very well observed that there are grave suspicion against Bimal Gurung in this case," the Court said while directing the lower court to proceed and frame charges against Gurung..Advocates Kaushik Gupta, Arnab Mukherjee and Shreyasi Manna appeared for the Bharati Tamang.Advocate Anirban Mitra appeared for CBI.Advocates Sayan De, Kaustn Shome, Rimik Chakraborty and Sayan Kanjilal appeared for other respondents..[Read Judgment]