Madan Tamang case: Court lets off Gurung; orders charges against his wife, 46 others

Kolkata: The City Sessions Court on Thursday discharged Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung from the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) leader Madan Tamang murder case.

The court directed framing of charges against the 47 other accused in this connection including Gurung's wife and head of the women wing of the GJM Asha Gurung, GJM secretary Roshan Giri, GJM central committee member Binay Tamang, and Harka Bahadur Chhetri.

It may be recalled that Madan Tamang was murdered in brought daylight when he was busy supervising preparation of a rally at Clubside in Darjeeling in May 2010.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had later taken up the case and found 54 people including the GJM chief involved in the crime.

Gurung's counsel submitted before the court that the GJM chief was not in Darjeeling when the incident had taken place. He was in Kalimpong on that day and the investigation has also not revealed his involvement in it.

Opposing the submission of Gurung's counsel, CBI's lawyer submitted that the GJM chief was involved in the conspiracy to murder Tamang. He also opposed the submission to discharge Gurung from the case.

City Sessions Court's judge Kundan Kumar Kumani directed that charges will be framed against 47 others and discharged Gurung from the case.

The court has ordered that the charge will be framed on August 28 against the 47 accused persons.

It may be mentioned that on August 1 the court had rejected the plea of the accused to adjourn the hearing on framing of charges in this connection. The GJM counsel had submitted before the court to adjourn the hearing as another hearing in this connection was scheduled to take place in the Supreme Court soon. The court had rejected the plea stating that the Apex Court had not given any stay order in this connection.