Two more arrested in connection with death of student in Gangtok brawl

GANGTOK, 20 May: Two more arrests were made today by the Sikkim Police in connection with the death of a 22-year-old second year SMIT student following a brawl at Café Live & Loud here at Tibet Road on Saturday night. This takes the number of arrests in connection with the case to seven, with five of the accused picked up yesterday itself.
Two bouncers working at the Café Live & Loud were placed under arrest by the Sadar police on 19 May in connection with the murder of Rakshit Meena. The two bouncers are Phurba Tamang [29], a resident of 3rd Mile, JN Road and Karna Hang Subba [25], a resident of Lall Bazaar, Gangtok, and both have been booked under Section 302/ 34 [punishment for murder with common intent] of the Indian Penal Code, informed DIG [Range], Dr. MS Tuli, today.
The arrests were made on the basis of the statements given by the four friends of the deceased who have alleged that after the accused attacked them, and they approached the bouncers to come and intervene and stop the fight, the bouncers did nothing and took no action and instead just stood there and watched, informed the DIG.
The sequence of events of the fateful night are now available in slightly clearer detail. The quarrel is reported to have occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on the intervening night of 18 and 19 May. As per the friends of the deceased, they were attacked as they left the restaurant. It now transpires that they were left to fend for themselves [an allegation which has led to the arrest of the bouncers as well], and somehow managed to flee the spot and reach their hotel.
The victim, Rakshit, appears to have spent a very uncomfortable night and when the complications and his condition became too desperate to ignore, his friends, who had been too scared to venture out till then, decided to rush him to medical attention. They drove to STNM Hospital emergency ward first and proceeded on to Central Referral Hospital. Although officials at STNM Hospital deny this [read rejoinder on pg2], the friends have recorded in their police statement that they were told there were no free beds at STNM Hospital which is why they left for CRH. Rakshit was declared brought dead at CRH.
The five accused arrested by the police yesterday are: Gurmey Wangchuk [the main accused], Loden Sherpa, Vidhant Pradhan, Sonam Namgyal and Ugen Namgyal. They have all been booked under section 302 [punishment for murder] of the Indian Penal Code. The dead of the victim was meanwhile flown out to Rajasthan for a funeral in his ancestral home today. The 22 year old Rakshit Meena was a second year student of civil engineering at SMIT.

S.M.I.T. CONDOLES UNTIMELY DEATH OF STUDENT

The Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, SMIT, Majhitar, East Sikkim expresses its deep sorrow and condolences on the untimely demise of one of its student in an unfortunate incident on 19 May 13.
Five students of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, SMIT, Majhitar had gone out on nightout pass to Gangtok on 18 May 2013.
On 19 May 2013 morning Rakshit Meena, a third year B.Tech (Civil Engineering) student of SMIT was brought by the students to the Central Referral Hospital (CRH) Tadong, where he was pronounced by the doctor as brought dead. The matter was reported to the police who responded immediately and started investigations.
The parents were informed and they reached Gangtok at around 4 PM on same day from Purnea, Bihar where the father of Rakshit Meena is posted as DIG (Range) Purnea. All necessary support was provided by the university to the family for carrying the body of the deceased to their native town Jaipur for his last rites.
As learnt from the students accompanying Rakshit Meena, the five SMIT students had gone to a local pub on 18 May evening to celebrate the birthday of one of the students. Inside the Café, the  students had exchange of words with another group of men following a dance session. Later, when the students were coming out the café at about 1.30 AM they were assaulted by the same group of men waiting just outside the entry to the Café, in which Rakshit Singh Meena suffered fatal injuries.
As per latest reports five of the six assailants have been arrested by Sikkim Police.
The cause of death as per Hospital authorities was due to internal bleeding probably due to internal injury caused by physical assault.
The management of Sikkim Manipal University and SMIT condole the untimely demise of Rakshit Meena and offers heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family. The University would be fully cooperating with the authorities in its investigations in the case.
Prof (Dr) Vandana Suhag
Registrar, Sikkim Manipal University

2nd year student beaten to death, five taken into custody

GANGTOK, 19 May: A brawl at a restaurant here ended in the death of a 22 year old student last night and the arrest of five persons, led by one Gyurmey Wangchuk, 34, on charges of murder even as the police are on the lookout for a sixth, as yet unidentified, accused.
The victim, Rakshit Meena, was a second year student at SMIT, Majhitar, and was in Gangtok to celebrate the birthday of a friend when a vicious attack, allegedly led by Gyurmey Wangchuk and involving five others outside Café Live & Loud here on Tibet Road at around 1:30 a.m. on the intervening night of 18 and 19 May, left him dead.
The deceased was at the restaurant to celebrate the birthday of Arindam Parmar, also the main eye witness in the case, along with four friends. Although details of the incident are still rather sketchy, statements made by eyewitnesses suggest that the two groups exchanged some words inside the restaurant following which Gyurmey Wangchuk and his friends left the restaurant.
Arindam Parmar, while speaking to media persons today, stated that when he and Rakshit left the restaurant, they were set upon by Gyurmey Wangchuk and his friends who had been waiting outside for them. A vicious attack followed with Rakshit as the main target, and it was only when bouncers from Café Live & Loud rushed out that the attack stopped. Rakshit was unconscious by then.
His friends then rushed their injured and unconscious friend to the hospital. Their first stop at STNM Hospital, much closer to the place of the incident, ended futile because they were turned away, reportedly on the grounds that there were no free beds. When the victim was finally reached to Central Referral Hospital down at Tadong, he was pronounced brought dead.
The incident of a death following an assault was informed to the Sadar police, as required by law, by the MO, CRH.
The sequence of arrests began early this morning and by midday all five were behind bars. SP [East] Manoj Tewari informs that the arrests were made based on eyewitness accounts and footage taken from the mobile phones of the victim’s friends.

SMIT student killed in accident

GANGTOK, 10 Feb: A 3rd year Civil engineering student at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Majitar, Rangpo was killed in an accident on 8 February. The deceased, Anuj Shekhar Sharma, 22 was a student from Guwahati and was riding a motorbike which collided with a Xylo vehicle at Bardang at around 4:30 pm that day. He was riding the bike along with pillion rider, Abhijit Biswas of Jalpaiguri who is a 2nd year student at SMIT. Anuj and Abhijit were on their way to Majitar when their bike collided with the Xylo which was on its way towards Singtam and coming from the opposite direction. Anuj is reported to have died on the way to the Singtam hospital while his colleague, Abhijit, sustained minor injuries. The driver of the Xylo vehicle, Kiran Gurung was arrested by the Singtam police and later released on bail.

Governor inaugurates Karuna Cultural Centre at Majhitar

GANGTOK, 11 July [IPR]: Governor Balmiki Prasad Singh, who is also the Chancellor of Sikkim Manipal University, inaugurated the Karuna Cultural Centre, a unit of the Majhitar Cultural Trust at the auditorium hall of the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS) here today.
In his address, the Governor commented that SMIT has become a major attraction of Rangpo and remarked that the Karuna Cultural Centre has been created to bring the people of Rangpo and its surrounding areas together in socio-cultural activities, an endeavour which the large number of private institutions and industries in the area should come forward for and assist.