Darjeeling, March 14: The Darjeeling district magistrate today warned the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha that the administration would not tolerate the confining of individuals to their residences or offices.

Ever since Morcha supporters traced some DGHC files to the residences of former officers of the council, the party has been trying to gherao the houses of retired councillors and lay siege to offices.

Rajesh Pandey, the district magistrate, said any person demanding a search of individual offices or residences would first have to lodge a complaint with the subdivisional magistrate (SDM), in this case the subdivisional officer.

“The SDM will hold an initial inquiry and if there is prima facie evidence, he will depute an officer to conduct the search. If the procedure is not followed, police will take action,” said Pandey, who is also the principal secretary of the DGHC.

“What has happened of late is not proper. It is most unfortunate that people tried to check files (on their own) kept in government offices,” he said.

Last night, the Morcha supporters had gheraoed the house of Deepak Gurung, the GNLF Darjeeling Branch Committee president, for three hours. They had also tried to raid the house for files, but were prevented by the police.

This morning, the Morcha members filed a complaint with the Darjeeling SDM. They wanted the administration to search the house of N.B. Khawash, a former GNLF councillor of the DGHC. A warrant was issued and the SDM had deputed government officials to oversee the search. “But no files were recovered,” said Pandey.