The trial in the Madan Tamang murder case will commence from Wednesday in hybrid mode with the accused attending the trial through video-conferencing from a Darjeeling court and the witnesses at the city sessions court in Calcutta.
Tamang, a firebrand hill leader, was hacked to death in Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010. His murder trial is set to start after 15 years.
“The trial will commence from Wednesday. All the accused will attend the trial through video-conferencing from Darjeeling court while the witnesses will attend the city sessions court in Calcutta,” said Amar Lama, Tamang’s lawyer and y
ounger brother.
Sources said the court of the civil judge, senior division Darjeeling, was designated as the “remote point” for conducting the video-conference.
Lama said the first witness summoned in the case was Laxman Pradhan, former general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, a party Tamang headed when he was killed. “He is the main complainant in the case but he recently died,” said Lama.
Of the over 80 witnesses in the case, some have died in these 15 years.
The path for the trial was cleared when the city sessions court in Calcutta had on June 26 framed charges against the 47 accused. Framing of charges is a process where the court formally accuses a person of committing a specific offence based on evidence and prosecution’s allegations. The main charges framed in this case are murder and criminal conspiracy with common intent.
Tamang was hacked to death just before he was supposed to address a public meeting that many said would reveal explosive details of hill politics. The venue of the meeting was Upper Clubside in Darjeeling.
The Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was in control of Darjeeling politics then. Tamang had been alleging that Gurung and his party would accept an autonomous council with the name “Gorkhaland” and that the party was insincere about its demand for Gorkhaland state.
The murder case has seen many twists and turns. The case was initially probed by the CID. After Nicole Tamang, a Morcha leader and a prime accused, fled from its custody, the case was handed over to the CBI.
The CBI in its May 29, 2015 chargesheet accused Gurung, his wife Asha Gurung and his associates such as Roshan Giri, Binay Tamang, Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Pradip Pradhan.
Many now with the ruling Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha are also accused.
On August 17, 2017, the Calcutta city sessions court set aside Gurung’s name from the chargesheet stating that the CBI had failed to provide enough evidence.
Madan Tamang’s wife Bharati filed a revision application in Calcutta High Court against the lower court’s order.
Last year, the high court set aside the lower court’s decision and once again made Gurung an accused in the case.