Security guard of slain Madan Tamang’s son found dead

SILIGURI - The body of the personal security guard of the son of slain Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) chief Madan Tamang was recovered here Wednesday, leading to allegations that he had been killed.

“Raju Tamang, 33, the private security guard of Sanjog Tamang, was recovered from his residence in Uttarayan Township area in Siliguri Wednesday,” Darjeeling Superintendent of Police Devandra Prakash Singh said.

Sleeping pills and some drugs were recovered from the house, he said, adding case of unnatural death case has been lodged and a probe initiated into the incident.

“His body has been sent to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for autopsy and after getting the reports we will be able to conclude whether he was murdered or died because of in-take of dozens of sleeping pills,” Singh said.

According to locals, the police were called in after Raju did not open the door despite repeated knocking Wednesday morning. The police broke open the door and recovered the body.

Some locals alleged that Raju was killed as he was a witness to the May 21 Madan Tamang murder, for which many have blamed the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), as the ABGL chief was heading a combination of parties against it.

There were also allegations that Raju’s murder has links to the escape of Nicole Tamang, one of the prime accused in Madan Tamang’s murder. Nicole, who was in Criminal Investigation Department (CID) custody, fled after hoodwinking the security personnel Aug 22 morning at a guest house run by hill development body Darjeeling Hill Gorkha Council (DHGC) in Pintail Village.

Singh, however, said Raju’s death was unconnected with the killing of Madan Tamang or the escape of Nicol Tamang.

Meanwhile, police is yet to trace out Nicole three days after his escape.

Inspector General of Police of CID Nirajnaray Pandey has reached Darjeeling to observe the situation in the hills after the escape of Nicol, which triggered unrest there and also to investigate the matter. The CID has already announced a cash reward of Rs. 50,000 for providing information leading to the arrest of Nicole.

Raids were also conducted jointly by the state police and CID officers in different areas of hills. Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) Ranveer Kumar said: “Nicole remains untraced so far. We are conducting search operations along with the CID personnel in various places of Darjeeling and its adjoining areas.”