GTA member Sanjay Thulung paid Rs 13.3 lakh to militants in Nagaland for GLP training - CID

11:22 AM

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GTA

GTA Sabha member Sanjay Thulung had provided Rs 13.3 lakh to militants in Nagaland to provide arms training to 15 members of the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) and some others from the Darjeeling hills, according to an FIR filed by the CID.

The FIR was filed by sub-inspector G.N. Roy of Runglee-Rungliot police station on December 6 following the seizure of a rifle, 22 rounds of live ammunition and five leaflets of the Gorkhaland Liberation Army (GLA) from an abandoned building in 27th Mile, near Darjeeling town, on the same day.

The documents written in English state that the GLA was planning “to attack police and civil administration personnel in order to kill them on duty and strike terror”.

Morcha leaders this paper contacted refused comment on Thulung’s alleged financial help for the arms training.

Police sources said the GTA member’s financial help to impart arms training to the GLP cadres was revealed during the interrogation of Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri, who had been held with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Assam on November 8.

“During the interrogation of the two accused by the CID, it was learnt that Sanjay Thulung had provided a sum of Rs 13. 30 lakh to NSCN (Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim) militants from Nagaland to provide four months’ arms training to 15 GLP members and other people from the hills from January 2013 onwards,” said a police source.

The police source could not specify to which of the three factions of the NSCN Thulung had supplied the cash. All three factions of the NSCN are outlawed.

The GLP is a voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

In the FIR, it has been mentioned that Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri had brought the arms from Sanjay Chhetri, Rahul Chhetri, Diku Chhetri and other members of the NSCN from Dimapur.

Today, Kami and Ganesh Chhetri were remanded in six days’ police custody.

Source: VIVEK CHHETRI for Telegraph

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Arrested GLP youths reveal link with NSCN , Former GLP chief denies charge

10:40 AM

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GTA

Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri arrested in the arms haul case in Assam last month have revealed during interrogation that the consignment was procured from one of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland factions in Nagaland and that some Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) youths had also undergone arms training with the militant group.

The two accused Ganesh Chettri and Umesh Kami and the Darjeeling-bound 
consignment of arms seized in Chirang district in Assam on November 8

This revelation has been made by the CID team in its FIR after interrogating the two accused who was produced in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Darjeeling on Monday, said sources. “The CID’s FIR mentions that the two accused had revealed that arms were purchased from Dimapur even before, which were delivered in Darjeeling. Kami and Chhetri have also disclosed that 15 GLPs and some others had undergone four months underground training in the militant camp in Nagaland in 2013,” the source said.
Colonel  Ramesh Allay (retired),  a GJM central committee leader who was in-charge of the GLP refuted the charge, however, made by the two accused saying it was baseless. "The GLP is non-existent at the moment after the formation of the GTA. The allegation that the GLP undertook training in Nagaland is completely false and baseless," he said when asked for his comment.
The GLPs was formed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) during the heights of the second phase of the statehood agitation, but which has been disbanded at present. The job of the GLPs comprising youths was to manage crowds during GJM public meetings.
According to the source, a CID team was sent to Assam to investigate possible link between the November 8 arms haul and a similar incident on January 30, 2014, in the Fulbari check post area under the Bhaktinagar police station. “In January early this year, police had recovered semi and automatic rifles from the Fulbari area. After the Assam arms haul incident, a CID team was sent to investigate a possible link,” the source said.
Sources said during interrogation the two accused had also revealed to the CID team that the arms procured from Nagaland including the one recovered in January was meant to be delivered in Darjeeling. And that earlier too arms brought were kept in the house of Sanjeev Gurung of Tukvar, who is presently absconding.
The CID in its FIR has also said that on December 6, a rifle and few rounds of ammunition along with discriminating leaflets in the name of the Gorkha Liberation Army (GLA), a less known outfit, were recovered from an isolated area of 27th Mile under the Rangli-Rangliot police station. “Based on the statement of the two accused the CID team had recovered arms from the 27th Mile area. Leaflets containing literature calling for armed struggle for a separate Gorkhaland state by the GLA group was also found. Simultaneously a FIR was also filed in the Rangli-Rangliot police station the same day,” said the source.
Pankaj Prasad, the assistant public prosecutor said the two accused was sent to judicial custody and will have to be produced in the court on Tuesday. “We had sought ten days police custody of the two accused to investigate further of other links. However, the CJM court judge has directed to furnish the FIR copy of the CID along with the remand prayer and the GLA leaflets. The two accused have been sent to the Darjeeling correctional home and will have to be produced in the court tomorrow,” he said, adding that the District Intelligence Branch (DIB) would be investigating the case henceforth.
The two accused had told the Assam police during interrogation that the arms consignment was meant to be delivered to Sanjay Thulung, a GTA Sabhasad from Tukdah-Glenburn constituency and vice-president of GJM’s youth front, who is currently on the run.
Thulung along with Kami and Chhetri and 10 others have been booked under sections 120B, 121, 121A, 122, 123, 124A of the Indian Penal Code read with 25 and 27 Arms Act.

Source; EOI

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Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) arms training with a militant outfit in Nagaland

10:09 AM

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northeast gorkhas

Vivek Chhetri
An FIR filed by the CID has mentioned that 15 members of the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP), a voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), and some other people from the Darjeeling hills had undertaken four months' arms training with a militant outfit in Nagaland last year.

Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri being taken to the court in Darjeeling on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang

A Morcha leader in charge of the GLP, when told of the purported contents of the FIR said he was "shocked", then immediately added that the volunteer force had become defunct.

The FIR was filed at Runglee-Rungliot police station on December 6 in connection with the recovery of a rifle and some documents which mention armed struggle for Gorkhaland under the banner of the hitherto little known outfit called the Gorkha Liberation Army.

The seizure was made on December 6 from an isolated place at 27th Mile, about 45km from Darjeeling town, based on information gathered after questioning two persons arrested in Chirang district of Assam on November 8.

The duo were allegedly carrying arms and ammunition to Darjeeling.

The two, Umesh Kami who was allegedly member of the GLP, and Ganesh Chhetri, reportedly from the Northeast-based United Gorkha People's Organisation, were today produced before Biplab Roy, the chief judicial magistrate of Darjeeling. They were remanded in a day's judicial custody.

"After the CID came to know about their arrest in Assam, a team went to that state as an FIR naming the two was pending in connection with the recovery of arms from the Bhaktinagar area in Siliguri on January 30, 2014. The CID team took them into custody," said a court source.

"During interrogation, it was revealed that the arms (found at Bhaktinagar and 27th Mile) had been procured from Dimapur, Nagaland, from the NSCN (Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim), a militant organisation. It was also revealed that 15 GLP members and other people from the Darjeeling hills had undergone an arms training in Nagaland with NSCN militants for four months since January 2013. The arms were being brought at the behest of Sanjay Thulung (a GTA Sabha member, who is absconding now)," said the court source quoting the CID's FIR.

The court source could not tell which faction of the NSCN trained them. The NSCN has three factions and all are banned.

The FIR also states that a consignment of arms was earlier brought to Darjeeling and kept in the house of one Sanjeev Gurung, a resident of Tukvar near here. "Sanjeev is also untraceable," said the source.

The FIR names 13 people, including Sanjay Thulung.

The other 12 are his brother, Bijay Rai Thulung, Umesh Kami, Ganesh Chhetri, Sanjay Chhetri, Raju Gurung, Sen Singh Gurung, Milan Subba, Manish Tamang, Mikki, Ram Singh Rai, Sanjeev Gurung and Rahul Chhetri.

The 13 accused have been booked under IPC sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting to wage war against the state, collecting arms with intent of waging a war and sedition, apart from Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act (illegal use of arms).

The court source, however, could not immediately tell whether any of the 13 accused had a GLP background.

"Since the (Assam) duo said they did not have a lawyer to defend themselves in the case nor the capacity to hire counsels, the court has appointed Rahul Sinha as the defence advocate in the case. The judge has also asked the investigating officer to produce a copy of the FIR and the documents (found at 27th Mile) in the court tomorrow. The court will hear our prayer for police remand of the duo tomorrow," said Pankaj Prasad, assistant public prosecutor.

The Runglee-Rungliot case, in connection with which Kami and Chhetri were produced in the court today, is being investigated by the District Intelligence Branch (DIB).

Prasad said the police would tomorrow seek 10 days' remand for the two.

Told that the FIR talked about the arms training by the 15 GLP members, Lt Col (retd) Ramesh Allay, who is the head of the GLP, said: "This is news for me, it is shocking. The GLP, however, has been defunct for a long time now. It exists only on paper, not physically. Earlier, too, the GLP was involved only in social work."

Asked when it was made defunct, Allay said "quite sometime back".


Source: Telegraph

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Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) cadre in arms haul

1:49 PM

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Gorkha Janmukti Morcha

The interrogation of the youth from Alipurduar, arrested while bringing an arms consignment to Bengal, has revealed that he is a member of the Gorkhaland Personnel, a volunteer force of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), a source in a central intelligence agency said in Guwahati.

Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri with the arms and ammunition in Assam.

While intelligence sources today linked the arms consignment intercepted in Assam to Yuva Morcha leader Sanjay Thulung, in Darjeeling Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said attempts were being made to malign the party.

Giri was referring to the raid on Sunday at the residence of Thulung, who is an elected GTA Sabha member, in connection with the haul.

According to a central intelligence source, the arrested youth Umesh Kami had said he had attended training sessions of the Gorkhaland Personnel near Gorubathan in Darjeeling.

"He got acquainted with Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha leader Sanjay Thulung during a Morcha meeting in Darjeeling in 2012. According to Kami, Sanjay had asked him to bring the arms consignment from Dimapur in Nagaland to Darjeeling," the intelligence source told The Telegraph in Guwahati

"Kami claims he doesn't know for what purpose Sanjay would have used these arms and ammunition," the source added.

Giri said the party was feeling that attempts were being made to suppress the Gorkhaland demand and malign the hill outfit.

He said the party would hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue.

"The party will sit for a meeting tomorrow. The party will also try and investigate the matter on its own. We are feeling that attempts are being made to suppress the Gorkhaland demand and malign the image of the party," Giri said in the first official reaction from the party, though party leaders had spoken in their individual capacity yesterday.

Ganesh Chhetri, who is a member of a militant outfit called the United Gorkha People's Organisation, is the other person who was arrested with the arms in Chirang district in lower Assam.

The Tata Safari in which Ganesh and Umesh were travelling had an M16 rifle, two Beretta pistols, three .32 bore pistols, 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 80 rounds of ammunition of AK-series rifles, 198 rounds of M16 ammunition and 60 rounds of .32 ammunition.

Sources in Assam police had claimed that Chhetri had said he was taking the consignment for "a political leader from Darjeeling" but had refused to disclose the name of the political leader.

Giri's comment comes at a time the Morcha is mobilizing hundreds of supporters for a three-day dharna in Delhi to press for Gorkhaland starting December 18.

The party has decided to organise the dharna at Jantar Mantar on December 18 and 19 followed by a public meeting at Talkatora Stadium the next day. Gurung has already directed the 630 primary school teachers and 269 secondary teachers, who got their appointment after the GTA was formed, to compulsorily attend the Delhi event.

Meanwhile, Gautam Deb, north Bengal development department minister, who was in Darjeeling today, said the incident was "serious". "I do not want to comment as I am on an official visit to Darjeeling. However, the public is taking note of all the developments. The issue is serious as the region is vulnerable and is surrounded by international borders."

Deb was in Darjeeling to attend a meeting of the Rogi Kalyan Samity. He also visited various sites in Kurseong to set up a branch office of the north Bengal development department.

Deb said they were hoping to start the office on a temporary basis this month before a fully-fledged office is set up within the next four to five months.

Source: Telegraph

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GJM under scanner after arms seizure along Assam-Bengal border

11:19 PM

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Harka Bahadur Chettri

An investigation into the chance seizure of a huge cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition from Assam-Bengal border reveals the alleged complicity of a section of the ruling Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leaders and cadres in Darjeeling who might have tried to smuggle in the consignment from Dimapur.

Arms seized in Assam : File Photo

Sanjay Rai Thulung, a Gorkha Territorial Administraton (GTA) Sabhasad ( Elected representative) from Takdah-Glenburn was found absconding when police raided his house and the investigators are conducting raids at several other hideout in search of Thulung.
Meanwhile, the investigators revealed that Umesh Karmi, who was arrested with the consignment of arms used to work as the driver of GJM president Bimal Gurung for a long time. A couple of years ago, he left his job and started working as a transporter in the Assam-Bengal region. However, Karmi has always been believed as an associate of some senior GJM leaders and had been in touch with them. Police is interrogating Umesh.
Police arrested two men – Umesh Karmi (29), a resident of Lankapara in Jalpaiguri and Ganesh Chhetri (53), a resident of Baksha district of Assam on Saturday. The two were allegedly carrying the consignment in a Tata Safari with West Bengal registration. A team from West Bengal police has already reached Assam and interrogated the duo, while Darjeeling district police is likely to plead for the custody of Karmi and Chhetri.
According to a police report submitted to the state home department, the arrested persons during interrogation revealed that they have been asked to carry the consignments of arms to Darjeeling. It could be gathered that some sections of local leaders in Darjeeling was trying to build an armed group that was named as ‘Gorkha Liberation Army’. The report also mentioned that the ruling GJM has split within and at present there are two prominent groups with one trying to prepare for a fresh armed struggle in future.
The Intelligence reports particularly indicated at the Youth wing of the GJM – known as the Gorkha Yuva Morcha – a large number of whom were disillusioned with the present GJM leadership and they thought that the present leaders have allegedly “compromised” on the separate statehood issue by accepting the GTA. The Yuva Morcha leaders have talked about a fresh movement for Gorkhaland and Thulung was said to be an important functionary of the Gorkha Yuva Morcha.
The report further says that the arms which were handed over to a courier company in Dimapur in Nagaland are of Chinese make. Police yesterday detained wife of Sanjay Thulung in the police station and interrogated her for several hours in the police station. She was later released from the police station. Thulung belongs to a family working in Glenburn tea estate. The report mentioned Thulung as an ex-member of Gorkhaland Police (GLP), a force raised by Bimal Gurung during the Gorkhaland movement in 2008. Thulung was made the vice president of the Gorkha Youth Morcha, GJM sources said.
While GJM leaders including Benoy Tamang, vice president of GJM and Roshan Giri, GJM
general secretary could not be reached, GJM MLA and senior leader of the party, Harka Bahadur Chhetri termed Thulung as a ‘decent and qualified’ person. “We are surprised to hear his name in this connection. There can be a conspiracy and his name could have been planted to malign GJM. We want a proper investigation to take place in this case and the truth to come out.”

Source: Madhuparna Das | Kolkata for indianexpress

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