Darjeeling police arrested Prakash Gurung, a former Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) member and a current leader of the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) on Sunday in a case related to the murder of sub-inspector Amitabha Malik during the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation.

Prominent hill politician Ajoy Edwards had floated the IGJF last year in December.

Prakash was arrested from Basbotey Rimbick, about 56 kilometres from here, on Sunday morning.

Pankaj Prasad, the assistant public prosecutor, said that Prakash, along with 26 others, had been chargesheeted in this case over seven years ago.

“The chargesheet had been filed on January 27, 2018. In all, 27 people were named including Prakash Gurung,” said Prakash.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung, who is the former chief executive of the GTA, has also been named in the chargesheet.

Sources said that Bimal obtained an anticipatory bail from the circuit bench of Calcutta High Court on this issue.

The police had arrested nine accused in the case in 2017. However, they too had recently obtained bail.

Another accused, Ayush Rai, was arrested on February 15 this year.

“Fifteen chargesheeted people are still absconding,” said Prasad.

Sub-inspector Malik was killed on October 13, 2017, when the police were raiding a camp that was allegedly being run by Bimal’s supporters in Darjeeling.

In 2017, Bimal had called a general strike, which was sparked by a Bengal minister’s announcement that Bengali would be made a compulsory language in the state.

Even though chief minister Mamata Banerjee clarified that the announcement would not be implemented, the protest in the hills snowballed into an agitation for identity politics and the proposed Gorkhaland state.

A general strike went on continuously for 104 days.

During the agitation, 11 Gorkhaland statehood supporters and two police personnel were killed. One of those two was Malik.

Prakash was then with Bimal Gurung’s party.

At the time of the agitation, he was also the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha.

Both Prakash and Bimal had been on the run for some years after 2017. They also reportedly shared a good rapport.

However, after Bimal Gurung resurfaced in 2020 and expressed support to Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Prakash slowly started distancing himself from Bimal’s party.

In December last year, when Edwards floated the IGJF, Prakash joined the party and became an active leader.

Prakash was produced before the chief judicial magistrate’s court on Sunday. He was sent in judicial custody for 14 days.