Kolkata: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders including their chief Bimal Gurung and his wife Asha Gurung were granted bail by the City Sessions Court in the Madan Tamang murder case on Tuesday after they surrendered before the Chief Judge Subhra Ghosh on the direction of the Calcutta High Court which recently granted them anticipatory bail.
In the morning Mr Gurung, chief of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in Darjeeling, Ms Gurung, deputy chief executive of GTA Colonel (retired) Ramesh Allay and 15 other leaders of the GJM appeared before the Chief Judge and surrendered themselves. The 18 accused were granted bail against a personal bond of Rs 10,000 on each.
Mr Gurung later said, “We surrendered to honour the high court’s order. We are happy now.” Lawyer of the accused, Tirthankar Ghosh, said that they would cooperate in the trial and would abide by the conditions set by the high court earlier.
The division bench directed all the accused to be present in Kolkata, a day before the framing of charge against them and none of them would be able to leave the jurisdiction of city court without the court’s leave till the trial would be disposed.
On December 14 a division bench comprising justices Ashim Kumar Roy and M M Banerjee of the high court granted anticipatory bail plea to 22 persons accused in the murder of Tamang, the All India Gorkha League leader in Darjeeling May 21 in 2010.
