Court grants BimalGurung bail after he surrenders in police officer murder case

DARJEELING, :GorkhaJanmuktiMorcha (GJM) leader BimalGurung, the prime accused in the murder of police officer AmitavaMalik, was granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Darjeeling after he surrendered on Thursday.

Gurung was granted anticipatory bail in an order passed on January 30 this year by a division bench of Justices JaimalyaBagchi and C.Gaurang Kant at the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court.

Darjeeling APP Pankaj Prasad said, “The GJM chief had already got an anticipatory bail from the High Court which had also directed him to surrender in the court here at Darjeeling within four weeks. He surrendered here at the CJM court today and has got regular bail.”

The case of Malik dates back to 2017 when tensions escalated over the Gorkhaland movement under Gurung's leadership. On October 13 that year, there was an exchange of fire between a police team in pursuit of BimalGurung and his men in the Shirubari forest area on the banks of ChotaRangeet River around 25 km from Darjeeling. SI Malik had died on the spot allegedly from bullet injuries fired by Gurung's associates.

A suo-moto FIR was lodged by the police at the Darjeeling at SadarPolice Station, naming Gurung and 26 others. The investigation was initially handled by the police before being transferred to the CID.

On November 6, 2024, an anticipatory bail was filed for Gurung in this case. With Gurung having received bail today the trail for the case will continue.