A worker of Jayantika tea estate near Siliguri was arrested on Friday for allegedly hacking to death the estate’s assistant manager on Thursday and police said no conspiracy could be attributed to the murder.

The accused, Elkkarus Ekka, is in his late thirties and a “sardar” or a supervisor of a group of workers.

Police said the murder of Nilanjan Bhadra hadn’t been pre-meditated. The Jayantika estate is under the jurisdiction of Phansidewa police station in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district.

The Calcutta-based Jaya Shree Tea & Industries Limited of the B K Birla Group runs the plantation.

“During interrogation, Ekka admitted to committing the crime. We have recovered the murder weapon (a dagger) which he threw away after committing the crime,” said a senior police officer.

Bhadra was riding a bike in the garden, which is around 30km from Siliguri, when he was attacked.

“The worker is having some problems in the family and had asked the victim to intervene. The assistant manager, however, refused, which led to an altercation. The worker hacked the official with the sharp weapon,” said the officer.

Ekka was produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Siliguri. He has been booked under Section 103 (punishment for murder) of the BNS, said Sudip Roy Basunia, the additional public prosecutor.

“The court remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days,” he said.

Estates shut down

Sungma and Turzum, two tea estates in the Darjeeling hills, owned by the Jay Shree Tea & Industries Limited, declared a lockout on Friday as workers refused to pluck first flush tea leaves.

Both the gardens are located in the Sukhiapokhri block of Darjeeling district.

“Since there have been repeated incidences of defiance of the management’s reasonable orders starting from February 25, the company has declared a lockout in both the gardens,” said A.K. Jha, group president of Jay Shree Tea.

The workers are demanding a four per cent bonus for the 2023-2024 financial year and an undertaking from the management to provide a 20 per cent bonus for the
current fiscal.

Every year, the bonus is paid in the tea industry ahead of Durga Puja. In 2024, estates in Darjeeling had disbursed the bonus at 16 per cent as was advised by the state government. The workers, however, wanted the bonus to be 20 per cent and are still insisting on the payment of the “remaining four” per cent.

A section of the hill leadership had given a call to workers not to pluck the first flush unless these issues were resolved. This had prompted a section of workers not to join their duties.

The first flush tea commands the highest price and any disruption in its production is likely to hit the garden’s finances high.

“Earlier, these two gardens were producing around 12 lakh kilos of tea. But this has come down to seven lakh kilos per annum,” said Jha.

Sources in the management said although the combined workforce of the two gardens was 1,032, only 400 to 450 turn up for work these days.