West Bengal CID freezes bank accounts of top GJM leaders, alleging that 'funds were misused for purchasing arms'

Kolkata: The West Bengal CID has freezed bank accounts of top Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders, including its president Bimal Gurung, alleging that the funds were being “misused”. The accounts of GJM general secretary Roshan Giri and assistant general secretary Binay Tamang were also freezed, a senior Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer confirmed the statement to PTI Thursday night . [caption id=“attachment_3806101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “Bank accounts of Gurung, Tamang and Roshan Giri have been freezed on July 17 after it was found that the funds were misused for illegal operations such as purchasing arms,” the officer said. “All these three accounts were in a private bank in Darjeeling and belonged to the GJM leaders who were using the fund for all sort of illegal activities starting from purchasing arms and weapons. Hence, we decided to freeze the accounts,” the officer said, adding around Rs 26 lakh was seized from the three accounts. Asked how long the accounts would be freezed, the officer said, “It’s still unclear. We have to look into the details of the transactions and a probe has been ongoing.” When contacted, Giri said he had no clue that the account, used as the salary account for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), has been freezed. “I have no clue that my account has been freezed. But my question is what could be the reason behind this. This account was used for my GTA salary account. I used this account to pay my house rent also,” he told PTI. “I have all the I-T details and my papers are up to date. I think this is absolutely unnecessary,” Giri added. Gurung and Tamang could not be contacted for their reactions. The hills are on the boil since 8 June, when GJM supporters clashed with police when they tried to break the barricades following which police restored to lathicharge. The GJM supporters damaged police vehicles and set some of them ablaze as the state government held a Cabinet meeting at the Raj Bhawan. The army had to be called out to stage flag marches in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong to restore peace.