The Indian Army on Monday decided to issue show cause notices to a top General and three other senior officers named in a land scam in Darjeeling, amidst speculation that soon-to-retire Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash may escape sacking.
The fourth round of tripartite talks on Gokhaland issue on Monday failed to come to an agreement in the absence of a consensus and the organisation spearheading the movement for a separate state has sought political dialogue at the next round of talks within 45 days.
Darjeeling Member of Parliament and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh raised the demand for creation of Gorkhaland state in the Lok Sabha, on Monday, saying the people of the region were already "emotionally separated" from rest of West Bengal.
Union Finance Minister and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pranab Mukheree on Sunday ruled out any further division of West Bengal.The minister said no problem could be solved by force and hoped that the GJM would call off its indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling Hills.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists demanding release of some of their supporters went on the rampage on Friday, setting ablaze the house of a Gorkha National Liberation Front leader in Darjeeling district and hurling stones at the police when they intervened, leading to a baton charge on them.
Lt Gen P K Rath, who has been indicted along with former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash in the Sukna land scam in Darjeeling, on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court against his court-martial order.
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"There is a cover-up going on and we have to find out who is at the bottom of this," Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said about the land scam case in which Prakash and three other Generals have been indicted by a Court of Inquiry for giving a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to a private realtor to construct an educational institute on a plot of land adjacent to Sukna army base in Darjeeling.
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The West Bengal government arrested Binay Tamang, one of the top leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and a member of its central committee, around midnight on Wednesday.
With two top Army generals being indicted by a Court of Inquiry (COI) for their role in a land scam in Darjeeling, the Centre on Tuesday said it had asked the Army to look into the matter and take "appropriate decisions."
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The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has been invited by the Centre to a third tripartite meeting in New Delhi on August 24, on Wednesday said it was 'meaningless' and would not call off the indefinite shutdown which entered the third day in the Darjeeling hills.
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Sikkim was cut off from the rest of the country when Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha activists blocked the National Highway 31A early on Saturday as part of their 24-hour strike in the Darjeeling Hills region. Vehicular traffic between Sikkim and Siliguri via the NH-31A has been totally paralysed since early morning, police officials at Rangpo inter-state border checkpost said. Only a few vehicles belonging to the military forces, press persons and some ambulances were seen.
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Bowing to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand, the West Bengal government on Wednesday said it will seek from the Centre a tripartite meeting to resolve the Darjeeling crisis in a few days.
Intensifying their efforts to hold tripartite talks on their demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Friday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee asking him to take an initiative in the matter.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday said it was no longer interested in holding talks with the West Bengal government on Gorkhaland issue and was awaiting tripartite talks in Delhi.
"There will be no discussion with the morcha on the statehood demand, but talks can be held on administrative arrangements and greater autonomy (for Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council)," Chief Secretary A K Deb told reporters at Writers' Buildings. Deb said in the absence of Morcha president Bimal Gurung, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would talk to any GJM representative.
Talks between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the West Bengal government on the Darjeeling crisis are expected to take place in Kolkata on June 25.
Stating that the GJM was seeking appointment with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, Gurung told PTI from Darjeeling that a delegation, comprising GJM central committee members, would meet MPs of different political parties.
The army was called in Siliguri and adjacent areas on Thursday in view of fresh tension arising out of Darjeeling crisis. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has called an all-party meeting on June 17 to discuss the Darjeeling crisis, arising out of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand for separate Gorkhaland state.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharya on Sunday said the Communist Party of India-Marxist would guard against the creation of a Nandigram-like similar situation anywhere in the state.
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Three hundred chicks were reported dead at Baganbari village in Falakata area of Jalpaiguri. An FIR was lodged and samples from the poultry sent for testing the presence of the H5N1 virus.
The Supreme Court has restrained the West Bengal Police from executing an arrest warrant issued by a Darjeeling court against radio jockey Janardhan Nitin Brady, whose comments on Indian Idol Prashant Tamang sparked large-scale violence in Siliguri.
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