The Madan Tamang murder trial commenced on Wednesday in a hybrid mode with the defence team submitting two petitions on the first day.

While 47 accused attended the trial through video conferencing from Darjeeling district court, the physical session was held at the city sessions court in Calcutta.

Pranay Rai, the public prosecutor, said: “The defence teams submitted two petitions today (on Wednesday).”

In one of the petitions, the defence team prayed that their clients be provided with all statements recorded by investigating officers during the probe and any other statements recorded before a magistrate.

“The defence team has also prayed for a Nepali translator to avoid any communication problem during the trial,” said Rai.

Tamang was hacked to death in the middle of Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010.

The court of the civil judge, senior division, Darjeeling, has been designated as the “remote point” for conducting the video conference during the trial. The next hearing has been fixed for August 25.

The path for the trial was cleared when the city session court in Calcutta had on June 26 framed charges against the 47 accused. The main charges 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 thought would have revealed explosive details of hill politics. The venue of the meeting was Upper Clubside in Darjeeling, where Tamang was killed.

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 the Morcha was insincere about the demand for a Gorkhaland state.

The murder case had seen many twists and turns. The case had initially been investigated by the CID. After Nicole Tamang, a central committee member of the Morcha and a prime accused, escaped from the CID custody, the case was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI named Gurung and his associates in a chargesheet submitted on May 29, 2015. Roshan Giri, Binay Tamang, Harka Bahadur Chhetri, Pradip Pradhan and Bimal’s wife Asha Gurung are among the accused persons. Many leaders who are now with the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) are also accused in the case.

On August 17, 2017, the Calcutta city sessions court removed Gurung’s name from the chargesheet, stating that the CBI had failed to provide enough evidence.

Last year, Calcutta High Court set aside the lower court’s decision, and Gurung was again made an accused.