Violence in Darjeeling Hills kills one, injures three

Kerseong (West Bengal), Jan 2 (ANI): Unidentified miscreants in the Darjeeling Hills ransacked houses and set them ablaze on Thursday after a member of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) was killed and three others were injured during a clash.

Subodh Pradhan, a leader of the GJM was killed and three others were injured during a clash between supporters of the party and caretaker of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) bungalow at Kurseong where they were attending New Year revelry on Wednesday.

After the incident, unidentified miscreants set around 25 houses on fire.

"A group of people came from the up hills. They had a tussle with the GJM leaders here and suddenly the set afire the bungalow as well as our houses. All my certificates of education and valuable properties are gone," said Sonam Chettri, a resident.

Meanwhile, the police said that the suspected culprits have been nabbed.

"There was some altercation between the leaders of the Gorkha leaders and the guard and in that one of the members died and three others were injured. The accused have been arrested," said Rajesh Singh, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Kurseong, Darjeeling District.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) under the leadership of Subhash Geishing initiated an agitation in 1980 demanding a separate state, but dropped the demand after New Delhi agreed to confer partial autonomy in 1988 for theepalese-speaking people under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution ofndia.

The Central Government, the State Government of West Bengal and the GNLF signed an agreement paving the way for setting up the Autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (ADGHC) in 1988.

However, there was a breakaway faction of GNLF in early 2008 that set up the GJM which over the past couple of months has been spearheading the agitation for the separate State of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills region. (ANI)