SIKKIM COPS DETAIN SIX GJM MEMBERS

The tension between Sikkim and West Bengal over Gorkhaland is set to rise as Sikkim Police on Friday detained a team of six Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) members arrested by Bengal policemen.

The team entered the south district of the Himalayan state allegedly without informing Sikkim administration.

The Bengal police team raided a spot in Majhitar near Namchi (South district headquarters) where a meeting of central committee members of the GJM was taking place. Sikkim Police detained the six arrested at Namchi police station.

The Bengal Police will need to obtain a transit remand from a Sikkim court, Pratap Pradhan, senior superintendent of police of Sikkim’s south district told HT.

Pradhan also alleged that Dawa Tshering Bhutia, 34, who is a resident of Kalimpong, died when policemen from Bengal opened fire at a place called Saddam near Namchi (the headquarters of South district). “We will register a case,” said Pradhan.

The tension between the two states started on June 20 when Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling wrote to Union home minister Rajnath Singh expressing his support for the new state being demanded by the Gorkhas. Bengal government promptly opposed Chamling’s stance, calling it an unwelcome interference.

“They have to take those arrested away on transit remand granted by a court. The team of Bengal police came into SIkkim territory without informing us,” said Pradhan. However, he did not reveal the identity of those arrested by Bengal police.