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The police has charged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung and four other party leaders under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for a blast in Kalimpong on Saturday night that killed a civic police guard. The UAPA had already been slapped against Bimal Gurung after a blast in Darjeeling on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Two other leaders —- Prakash Gurung, the GJM youth wing president, and the party chief’s close aide Pravin Subba —- were also charged in the Friday night blast case.
In Kalimpong explosion case, the trio and two other leaders from Kalimpong —- Dawa Lepcha, a senior Morcha leader from Kalimpong, and Barud Thapa, Yuva Morcha Kalimpong district president —- now face the UAPA. Although, Gurung has asked for an NIA investigation into the Darjeeling blast, the move to charge Gurung under UAPA twice in a span of two days shows the state government’s toughening face as Darjeeling remains indefinitely shuttered in a bandh that was called by statehood supporting parties in June.
Kalimpong SP Ajit Singh Yadav said: “The bomb blast near Kalimpong police station has confirmed intelligence reports that explosives and bombs are being collected by agitators.” Mahindra Chettri, general secretary of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) that supports the statehood movement, said the Darjeeling and Kalimpong blasts could be the handiwork of outside agencies and forces to derail the peaceful and democratic Gorkhaland movement. The Morcha said the state government was trying to suppress the peaceful and democratic movement.
Some sources said they heard two explosions in Kalimpong, one at 10.30 pm and another at 11.30 pm, on Saturday night, but police spoke of one blast. The police have also refused to speak on the nature of the blast before getting forensic test reports. Confirming the death of the civic police guard, ADG (law and order) Anuj Sharma said: “One person died while two have been injured in a bomb attack.”
According to police sources, on Saturday night, an explosive substance that seemed to be a grenade was thrown towards the police station in Kalimpong. Civic police guard Rakesh Raut died while two others suffered serious injuries. They were taken to Kalimpong hospital, where Raut was declared brought dead. The other two —- SSB jawan Manoj Deka (31) and a home guard Dhendup Bhutia (48) —- were sent to Siliguri for treatment.