POCSO case: Gurung aide sent to judicial custody

Darjeeling: Lopsang Lama (Yolmo,) the working president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Bimal) was sent to judicial custody by a district sessions court of Sikkim. Owing to ill-health he has been admitted at a Sikkim government hospital. Lama was arrested and charged under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Wednesday by the Sikkim police based on a complaint by a student.

The GJM (Bimal) had plans to field Lama from Kalimpong in the forthcoming Bengal Assembly elections. Lama was presently serving in the capacity of the principal of a private school in Sikkim.

"Lama was arrested from Namchi on Wednesday based on a complaint against him. He has been charged under POCSO Act and has been admitted to a hospital," stated Pravin Gurung, Deputy Inspector General of the Sikkim Police. "I cannot comment on the case without knowing the details," stated Roshan Giri, general secretary, GJM (Bimal.)

A close aide of Bimal Gurung, Lama was elected as GTA member from Rongo and had served as the Deputy Chairman of the GTA. With Gurung on the run since the Gorkhaland agitation in 2017, Lama was looking after the party activities in the Hills.

Earlier on January 18, 2018 he had been arrested from Kharibari on the Bengal-Bihar border, implicated in cases pertaining to the attack on Jaldhaka police station on June 17, 2017 along with torching of two police vehicles. Later he was out on bail.