Cops announce cash award for info on JB Darnal assailants

MEANWHILE, SOUTH POLICE WORKS ON SPECIFIC LEADS 

GANGTOK, 13 Aug: The South district police are onto specific leads which are being followed up diligently in order to apprehend the culprits behind the murderous attack on JB Darnal, the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee vice president recently. While senior police officials are tightlipped about disclosing the kind and nature of the leads as it may hamper the ongoing investigation, they confirmed that the police have some suspects whom they are “watching closely”.
Meanwhile, the office of the SP [South] has announced a cash award of Rs. 10,000 to anyone with any information on the culprits which will lead to their arrest. The SP informs that people with such information/ leads can approach the police, either at the police headquarters in Gangtok or the South district police headquarters at Namchi, with concrete information. Such persons can also contact the police on email or on mobile phone.
“The identity of the informant will be kept confidential,” assures the SP South.
Such individuals with any information can approach the DGP, Jasbir Singh at 9434011127 or ADGP SD Negi at 9434022961 or DIG/R, V Vinayak at 7407000222 or SP South at 9733344400.
As for the leads on the attackers, these are at a preliminary stage and hopefully will lead to some kind of breakthrough, officials inform. The sniffer dogs deployed by the police to trace the attackers took the police to a jhora Mr. Darnal’s home at Namthang, South Sikkim, after which the trace vanished.
The water body erased further trace of the attackers and the dogs could not go further. The rains too helped in erasing tracks of the culprits. As of now, the police are engaged in marking the possible route which the attackers might have taken on their escape. At the same time people residing in the nearby areas are also being interrogated for any information they might have.
While the police have some suspects in mind they are not revealing any names yet. The movements of the suspects are being verified and information being gathered on their activities.
On the matter of the cash award, the SP South clarified that some people may require some incentive in order to approach the police with information. He further stated that the cash incentive for information was in addition to efforts being put in by the police themselves in hunting down the culprits.
Mr. Darnal was attacked by two masked men at his home on the night of 11 August with weapons causing him severe injuries. He is currently undergoing treatment at the Central Referral Hospital, Gangtok.