Siliguri, April 10: The Darjeeling police are yet to provide a clarification to Amnesty International which has sought an explanation on the “wrongful detention” of a Bhutan national who was arrested in January, carrying a bag of 100 human skulls.

Thirty-year-old Sangey Lama was picked up by a patrolling jeep on January 29 near the NJP railway station in possession of a gunny bag containing 100 human skulls and four bones.

The district police authorities are yet to reply to the letter from the apex international human rights body, which has also inquired about his whereabouts after being released from jail.

According to sources, the police had received the letter from Amnesty on February 27, which was then routed to the police directorate at Writers’ Building.

Darjeeling superintendent of police Sanjay Chander told The Telegraph: “We will soon write back to Amnesty. In fact, Lama was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a genocide case. However, we know nothing about Lama’s whereabouts since his release.”

Sources said Amnesty International has sought a “clarification” on the grounds on which Lama was arrested.

Lama’s relatives had moved Amnesty International seeking “justice” after his arrest. His family alleged that he was re-arrested by Darjeeling police later “surreptitiously” handed over to the Bhutan police.

They also claimed that Darjeeling police officials did not care to listen to Lama’s version, even though the latter repeatedly tried to explain to the police that human skulls and bones like the femur and humerus were in great demand in the hill state.

Lama had told the Siliguri police that he had bought the skulls from a “dealer” based in Gaya and was taking a short cut to Siliguri though Deshbandhupara. The items, he said, were in high demand in the remote pockets of Sikkim and Bhutan where skulls are used by Buddhist monks for practising tantrik rituals.

Senior district police officers also could not tell where Lama had gone after being released on bail. He was produced at the Siliguri subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court after being arrested in Siliguri. He was let off after the police failed to frame any specific charge against him.

What prompted the police to think that the Lama could be involved in a racket is the similarity of this case with another incident that occurred in 2001, which has remained a mystery to the police. In 2001, the police had recovered a sack containing 100 craniums from the Sikkim Nationalised Transport bus terminus in Pradhannagar. “No one was arrested then. But we had to tread with caution in Lama’s case,” said a senior police official.