VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, Darjeeling, May 21: The widow of murdered ABGL leader Madan Tamang today appealed to the chief minister to “just hear out the pain” she was going through.
Bharati Tamang’s appeal came on the second death anniversary of her husband and at a time the government under Mamata Banerjee has managed to restore peace in the hills.
A memorial service for Madan Tamang was today held at Upper Clubside where he was hacked to death by a khukuri-wielding mob two years ago. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had been accused of masterminding the murder.
“I just want the chief minister to hear out my pain. I had sought an appointment with her at least five times but she does not even want to meet me. Nevertheless, I am still hopeful that she will one day hear me out.
Time is a big thing and I am hopeful that time will come when she will have to give me an appointment,” said Bharati, who is now the president of the party.
The meeting was held amid tight security with the police cordoning off the entire area and restricting traffic along Ladenla Road.
The bandobast prompted Bharati to comment: “If the police had made adequate arrangement on that day, my husband would not have been killed. Only a few lathi-wielding police personnel had been posted that fateful day and some of the police personnel had also fled the scene during the attack.”
Asked if she was hopeful of getting justice, Bharati later told journalists: “I have heard that the accused are now getting bail when they actually should be behind bars.”
Thirty people had been named in the chargesheet filed by the CID. Nine people were arrested. Of them, one died, two persons are out on bail and a third, Nickole Tamang, escaped from police custody. After the case was handed over to the CBI in January last year, one more person was arrested. His name was not in the CID chargesheet. All those arrested were known to have Morcha links.
Asked about Bharati’s grievance, state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said: “The chief minister meets everybody. Her doors are open for all. Maybe they did not approach the right people to get an appointment with her. Even if they don't get to meet her, they can always write to her.”
Today’s memorial service was attended by leaders of many outfits opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, contrary to last year when it was a low-key event attended by friends and relatives of the Tamang family. This time, the Morcha had tried to scuttle the ABGL plan by announcing a public meeting on the same day a few yards from the ABGL venue but cancelling it at the last moment.
The general secretary of the ABGL, Pratap Khati, said the government was holding back a digital file, purportedly containing conversations between the Morcha leaders allegedly involved in Madan’s murder, from the CBI which has been handling the case.
“We have information that the government has not handed over the digital file containing the phone conversation of those involved in the murder to the CBI (which is investigating the case),” said ABGL general secretary Pratap Khati.
He said the party has set a June 20 deadline for handing over the digital file to the CBI. “If the digital file is not handed over to the CBI, we will start a relay hunger strike from the next day. If the relay hunger strike fails to yield the result, our party supporters will start an indefinite hunger strike from July 1,” said Khati.
Asked about the charges, minister Mukherjee said: “This is for the state home department to decide…I don’t know what documents are there.”
Home secretary Basudeb Banerjee said in Calcutta: “I cannot possibly comment on this.”
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