Bail hearing for 13 arrested in Rhenock rioting set for 17 Jan

ALTO INVOLVED IN RIOTING INCIDENT SEIZED; ANOTHER 14 ACCUSED STILL ABSCONDING
GANGTOK, 15 Jan: The bail hearing for the 13 accused in the rioting and ransacking of the Rhenock police station on 11 January has been set for 17 January. Supporters of dissident SDF MLA, PS Tamang [Golay], along with their legal counsel had arrived at the District & Sessions court, Gangtok, this morning to seek bail for the accused persons presently in judicial custody.
It is informed that the bail application was submitted today at the court and the hearing set for 17 January.
Meanwhile there have been no more arrests but the police on 14 January seized a private Alto vehicle from Rangpo which, according to them, was involved in the Rhenock incident. The driver, however, claims that he was not involved and that the vehicle was being used by someone else.
It is informed that the police, quite obviously, are objecting to the bail application and are seeking the surrender of all the accused persons involved in the rioting which took place at Rhenock bazaar on 11 January. In the same vein Golay supporters contend that it is the job of the police to arrest accused persons and that application for bail is a different matter. On the other hand Janak Chettri, the driver of KB Chamling in whose vehicle the police found the 228 supposedly defamatory booklets has been released on bail.
It is now learnt that among the accused who have been named in the FIR at the Rhenock police station are also Neema Theeng and MK Subba. In fact there are close to 30 people named in the FIR and among them are Sonam Lachungpa, Phuchung Bhutia, DB Chettri, V Khatiwara, NR Pradhan, Santosh Pradhan, Pravin Subba, Dawa Tamang and KT Adhikari.
As per the SP East, Dr. MS Tuli, all these accused are presently absconding; the police have been searching for them but they are not available in their respective residences.
Apart from sections of the Indian Penal Code covering rioting having been imposed against them along with damage to public property etc they also stand accused of criminal conspiracy. The police has been on the lookout for them for the past few days; in the process nakabandhi has also been done in Ranipool and other places by the police with the help of IRB personnel in their search of what they call ‘anti social’ elements.
In the meantime the 13 arrested so far for rioting are still at the State Jail at Rongeyk and among them are Bishal Tamang, 29; Ajay Rai, 23; Jitu Gurung, 26; Mahendra Subba, 30; Bikash Limboo, 30; JB Basnett, 47; KN Sharma, 23; Laxmi Niroula, 38; YT Lepcha, 45; Bikash Limboo, 18; KT Bhutia, 45; Sandeep Gurung, 21 and K Manger, 26.