Bimal Gurung plans to enter Darjeeling before Oct 30: Intel

KOLKATA: Fugitive GJM president Bimal Gurung is not ready to give up and may try to enter the Hills yet again before the October 30, intelligence sources said on Saturday.

They added that Gurung may even use a "human shield" to make it difficult for the police to open fire. Intelligence sources say that Gurung is not being able to come to terms with the winds of change in his party.

He still believes that that he holds the sway in the Hills. He is thus desperate to make a public appearance in Darjeeling and tell the people that he has been made scapegoat because he has been fighting for Gorkhaland. He wants to don the "martyr image" before he courts arrest.

Intelligence inputs serve a warning to the state police that apparently went into a misadventure on Friday by sending about just 20 policemen initially without bullet-proof jackets and headgears to confront 170 Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) force armed with AK-47 and other sophisticated weapons.

The recoveries made by the police following the pre-dawn encounter at Bengal-Sikkim border on Friday and consequent raids across the Hills suggest that the Gurung brigade has stockpiled huge arms and explosives from the Northeast to challenge the state's might. The police are now trying to penetrate into the Gurung loyalists and collect information on two key persons — GJM youth wing president Prakash Tamang and Gurung's trusted aide Dipak Bale.

The duo is in touch with former GTA corporator from Tukdah-Glenburn constituency Sanjay Thulung alias Sanjay Rai. Thulung is wanted by Darjeeling Police and Assam Police in an arms case.

According to police, Thulung has been working with GLP member Umesh Kami for five years since 2012 to draw up Bimal Gurung's security shield. CID on Saturday froze bank accounts of three Darjeeling-based businessmen who had been funding the Gurung faction.