Unrest continues in Darjeeling as CID cracks down on finances of top GJM leaders.
The West Bengal CID has frozen bank accounts of top Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders, including its president Bimal Gurung, alleging that the funds were being "misused".
The accounts of GJM general secretary Roshan Giri and assistant general secretary Binay Tamang were also freezed, a senior Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer confirmed to PTI tonight . "Bank accounts of Gurung, Tamang and Roshan Giri have been freezed on July 17 after it was found that the funds were misused for illegal operations such as purchasing arms," the officer said. "All these three accounts were in a private bank in Darjeeling and belonged to the GJM leaders who were using the fund for all sort of illegal activities starting from purchasing arms and weapons. Hence, we decided to freeze the accounts," the officer said, adding around Rs 26 lakh was seized from the three accounts
Asked how long the accounts would be freezed, the officer said, "It's still unclear. We have to look into the details of the transactions and a probe has been ongoing." When contacted, Giri said he had no clue that the account, used as the salary account for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), has been freezed. "I have no clue that my account has been freezed. But my question is what could be the reason behind this. This account was used for my GTA salary account. I used this account to pay my house rent also," he told PTI.
"I have all the I-T details and my papers are up to date. I think this is absolutely unnecessary," Giri added. Gurung and Tamang could not be contacted for their reactions. The hills is on he boil since June 8, when GJM supporters clashed with police when they tried to break the barricades following which police restored to lathicharge. The GJM supporters damaged police vehicles and set some of them ablaze as the state government held a Cabinet meeting at the Raj Bhawan. The Army had to be called out to stage flag marches in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong to restore peace.
Amid the withdrawal of Army from the hills on the state government request, the pro- Gorkhaland agitators continued to run amok today, burning down two government offices at Lamahatta in Darjeeling. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters threw petrol bombs at a revenue department office and a panchayat office, reducing them to ashes, the police said. The Supporters of the GJM and other hill parties also held a demonstration today outside the district magistrate's office demanding restoration of Internet services which remained suspended for the last 32 days. The Army, meanwhile, was withdrawn from the restive hills after the state government sought its pull-out on July 18, a defence official said today.
"The Army was deployed in the hills on July eight on request from the state government. The Army was withdrawn on July 18 as the state government sought its withdrawal," a defence official today said. Meanwhile, a delegation of various hill parties met West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today and submitted a memorandum regarding the situation in the hills. While talking to reporters later on the sidelines of a programme, Tripathi said, "They came to meet me. I have told them to create an atmosphere so that normalcy could be restored in that area." Some political party activists, dressed in traditional Nepali attire, took out rallies in the morning. The police and security forces patrolled the streets and kept a tight vigil at every entry and exit points. All shops, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges remained closed except pharmacies.
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 "Darjeeling unrest")
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