An owner of a reputed hotel here has lodged an FIR in the Sadar police station against a nominated Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) alleging assault and forceful entry into his property along with a bunch of party cadres.
Santanu Biswas (60), owner of Snow View Hotel, located above Hill Cart Road just where the town area begins, has accused
Durga Kharel, a nominated sabhasad of the GTA, who is also a government pleader, of entering his hotel at 5pm Tuesday evening with TMC cadres and forcibly trying to take possession of the property by breaking locks.
“Kharel came with his party goons who were armed with rods and sticks and forcibly tried to enter my property. When I resisted them, the sabhasad held me down on the floor and started kicking me. Had it not been for my neighbours, I could have got grievously injured,” Biswas alleged.
According to the hotel owner, the unprovoked assault stems from a property related issue pending in the Darjeeling court and the Kolkata High Court.
“The government pleader is not above law. There is an injunction in place over the property. His action belittles the position he holds and he has misused it grossly. In fact, in 2010 too he had forcibly entered my property,” said Biswas.
Snow View Hotel, though it boasts of just 33 rooms, was established way back in 1931 and has played host to freedom fighters including Naresh Mitra and Ujjala Mazumdar and singing legends such as Manna Dey. It is a property owned by an old and respectful Bengali family of Darjeeling. The property originally belonged to Sati Prasanna Biswas, who, before his death in the 1980s, divided it among his three wives and their sons and daughters.
Of the property, the disputed one in question is a seven-roomed house named Avasar Nilay originally owned by Biswas’s third stepsister Rita Behra, who at present lives in Srerampore. He had taken the house on rent in 1981 for a monthly rental of Rs800 and had renovated and maintained the property including paying necessary taxes.
Meanwhile, Kharel, who was Behra’s advocate until he purchased Avasar Nilay for Rs10 lakh from her in 2001, said he had gone to inspect his property.
“My client treated me more like a brother,” he said. “She confided to me she was least interested in getting entangled in legal wrangles and was not staying in Darjeeling anyway. Hence, I stepped in and offered to purchase the property that was already under a dispute. As far as the allegation of assault is concerned, it was Biswas who first used expletives provoking me thus,” he counterclaimed.
In 1993, Behra had filed an eviction case in Darjeeling court for re-possession of the property upon revocation and termination of license and damages against her half-brother. In 2005, the Darjeeling civil senior court judge issued a judgment in Behra’s favour which prompted Biswas to appeal before the district court and also the high court.
Kharel also furnished a written reply from the high court stating Biswas’ appeal had not been entertained and no stay order has been issued as yet.
Interestingly, on July 21 of this year, the senior division court civil judge stopped the eviction order issued earlier and directed Biswas to submit the high court stay order within September 26.
Source: EOI
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| Durga Kharel TMC GTA sabhasad |
Durga Kharel, a nominated sabhasad of the GTA, who is also a government pleader, of entering his hotel at 5pm Tuesday evening with TMC cadres and forcibly trying to take possession of the property by breaking locks.
“Kharel came with his party goons who were armed with rods and sticks and forcibly tried to enter my property. When I resisted them, the sabhasad held me down on the floor and started kicking me. Had it not been for my neighbours, I could have got grievously injured,” Biswas alleged.
According to the hotel owner, the unprovoked assault stems from a property related issue pending in the Darjeeling court and the Kolkata High Court.
“The government pleader is not above law. There is an injunction in place over the property. His action belittles the position he holds and he has misused it grossly. In fact, in 2010 too he had forcibly entered my property,” said Biswas.
Snow View Hotel, though it boasts of just 33 rooms, was established way back in 1931 and has played host to freedom fighters including Naresh Mitra and Ujjala Mazumdar and singing legends such as Manna Dey. It is a property owned by an old and respectful Bengali family of Darjeeling. The property originally belonged to Sati Prasanna Biswas, who, before his death in the 1980s, divided it among his three wives and their sons and daughters.
Of the property, the disputed one in question is a seven-roomed house named Avasar Nilay originally owned by Biswas’s third stepsister Rita Behra, who at present lives in Srerampore. He had taken the house on rent in 1981 for a monthly rental of Rs800 and had renovated and maintained the property including paying necessary taxes.
Meanwhile, Kharel, who was Behra’s advocate until he purchased Avasar Nilay for Rs10 lakh from her in 2001, said he had gone to inspect his property.
“My client treated me more like a brother,” he said. “She confided to me she was least interested in getting entangled in legal wrangles and was not staying in Darjeeling anyway. Hence, I stepped in and offered to purchase the property that was already under a dispute. As far as the allegation of assault is concerned, it was Biswas who first used expletives provoking me thus,” he counterclaimed.
In 1993, Behra had filed an eviction case in Darjeeling court for re-possession of the property upon revocation and termination of license and damages against her half-brother. In 2005, the Darjeeling civil senior court judge issued a judgment in Behra’s favour which prompted Biswas to appeal before the district court and also the high court.
Kharel also furnished a written reply from the high court stating Biswas’ appeal had not been entertained and no stay order has been issued as yet.
Interestingly, on July 21 of this year, the senior division court civil judge stopped the eviction order issued earlier and directed Biswas to submit the high court stay order within September 26.
Source: EOI
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