The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigating the murder case of All India Gorkha league president Madan Tamang on Tuesday questioned the Calcutta High Court’s jurisdiction over hearing the anticipatory bail application of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, one of the prime accused in the case.
A CBI court had on May 29 directed Gurung and 22 other GJM leaders to surrender before it but the accused then moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail. The court hearing the plea granted a stay on the arrest of the accused till the anticipatory bail plea was disposed off.
The CBI pleaded before the court that it had no jurisdiction over the case as the investigation was done and chargesheet naming Gurung and others had been filed in response to a Supreme Court order. Only a CBI court could hear the bail petition, the CBI counsel maintained.
The hearing was fixed for December 8. The CBI counsel earlier said that the Supreme Court had directed the investigating agency to conduct a fresh inquiry into the case and file a comprehensive report before it.
As the apex court was monitoring the case and the CBI had already produced the comprehensive report at the Supreme Court and in the same time submitted the chargesheet to the CBI court the “High Court cannot entertain their anticipatory bail pleas,” the CBI lawyer said.
Gurung and his senior party leaders including his wife Asha Gurung, Roshan Giri and former party MlA Harka Bahadur Chetri were named in the murder of Madan Tamang, a popular leader in Darjeeling.
He was stabbed to death in broad daylight in Darjeeling in May 2010, hours before he was scheduled to hold a public rally. Though Tamang supported the demand of a separate Gorkhaland he was opposed to Bimal Gurung.