Top GJM leaders arrested, normal life hit in Darjeeling hills
Darjeeling, Aug 22: Two top GJM leaders, including an executive member of Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), were arrested here on Thursday in connection with old cases of arson pending against them, the police said.
Benoy
Tamang,
assistant
secretary
of
GJM
and
an
executive
member
in-charge
of
Information
and
Culture
Department
of
GTA,
was
arrested
early
this
morning
from
Rambi
near
Sikkim-West
Bengal
border
at
Kalimpong
sub-division.
He
was
arrested
during
a
police
raid
in
the
area,
sources
said,
adding
that
he
was
held
for
cases
related
to
arson.
Acting on a tip-off, another GTA member and leader of GJM, Satish Pokhrel, was arrested from a different location in Kalimpong, sources said. He was also arrested for old police cases pending against him, the police said. With the arrest of Tamang and Pokhrel, 13 GTA members have been arrested so far since the indefinite bandh demanding separate Gorkhaland began in Darjeeling hills.
Two other members of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) were also arrested early today from Kalimpong. A total of 685 leaders and members of GJM and bandh supporters were arrested in Darjeeling hills since July 29, the police said. Meanwhile, normal life continues to be affected in Darjeeling hills with shops, business establishments, offices, schools and educational institutions remaining closed.
As part of their two-day 'Rasta Janta' (people on the roads) programme, a huge number of GJM supporters have begun to gather on the main roads of the town and chant slogans in demand for Gorkhaland.
The ongoing rain and storm which uprooted trees and damaged small houses in Darjeeling town has stopped. The roads are still being cleared of the uprooted trees, administrative officials said.
PTI