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Houdini Act High Profile Murder Suspect Escapes CBI Custody
D.P. Singh, chief of Darjeeling police who are backing up the CID investigation into Madan Tamang’s murder, said that Nickole was in the custody of a five-member CID team. “At around 7.30am, I was informed that he had escaped,” Singh said. He said Nickole “might head for the hills or board a train or bus.”
As soon as the news broke out, GJM on the 23rd of August called an indefinite strike in Darjeeling district and said the hills “could be on fire” if the police failed to produce Nickole within 12 hours. It said it feared an ailing and innocent Nickole may have “collapsed or even died” of torture. CID Inspector - General P. Nirajnayan failed to explain why the CID team had taken Nickole to Pintail Village, or why it had broken protocol by spending the night there with the captive. The team, led by inspector Ardhendu Shekhar Pahari, had brought the accused to Siliguri after a Darjeeling magistrate granted the CID 12 days’ custody of Nickole.
“Over the past three days, they took him to several places for investigation but brought him back to Pradhannagar police station to spend the night in the lockup,” the Darjeeling police chief said. “But that day (on 22nd August), the team did not act according to rules and kept Nickole with them at Pintail Village. I had no clue. I came to know only this morning that he had been kept there.” He, however, has assured the GJM delegation that Nickole is not subjected to the third degree and there is no foul play in his disappearance. On the SP’s assurance, GJM had relaxed the bandh from 25th August till 30th August.
Nirajnayan also said two CID sleuths, sub-inspector Aniruddha Chatterjee and Constable Arabinda Kumbhakar, had been suspended for dereliction of duty. He, however, did not explain why the other three police personnel were spared. The police expressed surprise that someone could escape from the fortified Pintail Village, situated off NH55. “The whole compound is surrounded by an 8 to 10-foot-high boundary wall with spikes. Each bungalow too has walls of almost similar height,” an officer said.
The Hill Council’s administrator, B.L. Meena, lives and works in one of the bungalows and the IRB occupies several. Some 20-25 of the bungalows are now vacant. Earlier, Morcha leaders often stayed in the compound. The CID team had taken the Hill Council’s permission to spend the night in bungalow No.29, sources said.
However, the follow up report suggests that the policeman guarding Nickole got a call on his mobile phone and had stepped outside for better reception. Significantly, Nikole had, at this time asked for permission to use the toilet. Nickole then got chance to escape from the heavily guarded building. At the same time, Arabinda Kumbhakara, the other guard was out for tea.
The CID team that had Nickole Tamang in its custody apparently ignored protocol followed by policemen traveling with an accused, leading to his disappearance. One of the breached protocols was that the escort team given to the CID by the district police to guard Tamang was sent back when he was retained at Pintail Village overnight - another security rule that was flouted. “After the court granted police remand, the CID team brought Tamang to Siliguri to interrogate him. Over the previous three days, they had taken him to several places, including Pintail Village for investigation but brought him back to Pradhannagar police station where he was kept in the lock-up at night. That fateful night, the team did not act according to the rules,” Devendra Prakash Singh, the Superintendent of Police of Darjeeling, said.
According to senior officers, an accused in police custody has to be kept at night in the lock-up of the police station where the investigators are
based. “During the day, they can take him out and move to places necessary for investigations,” a senior officer said. The Darjeeling district police chief also said the CID team had no additional force posted at Pintail where Nickole was being kept overnight. Singh said the district police had formed a five-member team of a Sub-Inspector and four constables to escort Tamang if he was moved around. “On 22nd August, the escort team was sent back to Pradhannagar Police station,” Singh said. Sources said that at around 9pm, the escorts were reportedly asked by the CID personnel to leave Pintail and to return at 9pm on the following day. However, Singh said he was not ready to comment on the CID action. “Whatever has been done in this case (Madan Tamang murder case) was done in a combined manner and naturally, the issue of the escape, too, has to be taken up in a combined manner,” he said.
Even after the escape, neither the CID nor the intelligence officers searched the vicinity of Pintail Village. It was only at around 11.15am, more than four hours after Nickole was reported missing, that Singh, along with Siliguri Additional Superintendent of Police Gaurav Sharma, visited Pintail. Police teams fanned out in the neighborhood around noon, only to draw a blank.
“Policemen were standing on highways, braving the rain to search cars. Plain clothed policemen were also deployed at New Jalpaiguri station and also at Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus, but none of them carried any picture of Nickole, who is not a well-known figure or a top leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which would have made him easily recognizable. Only a handful of policemen, most of them posted in Darjeeling, can identify him without a picture,” an officer said.
The GJM has alleged that police are trying to hide the fact that an ailing Nickole Tamang has died in custody. Nickole, a diabetic with kidney problems, was unable to bear the grilling and the torture at the CID interrogation camp, the party said. Party spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri said, “We fear that Nickole’s body could not take the torture and he must have collapsed or even died. The police are probably trying to hide the fact.” On August 18, defense lawyer Taranga Pandit had told the court hearing the CID plea for police remand that Nickole was a diabetic and should be treated well.
The Morcha also claimed that it was virtually “impossible” for Nickole to escape from Pintail Village. “We were told that he was being guarded by 70 police personnel. How can an accused in such a sensitive case flee from a heavily fortified place? Had he been in Darjeeling, he probably could have fled but it is impossible for a hill person having little knowledge of the plains to hoodwink the police. In custody, an accused does not carry money or have access to facilities for communication,” said Chhetri. However, Nickole was no stranger to the layout of Pintail Village, as claimed by his party members. He often stayed at the complex frequented by the Morcha leadership.
To catch Nickole, CID has also announced a reward of Rs.50,000/- for information and a red alert has been issued in the surrounding districts of West Bengal.
On the other hand, ABGL has termed the incident a well-orchestrated drama of the State government and GJMM to set Nickole Tamang free. Dawa Sherpa, working President of the ABGL and also a former IPS officer, said, “We are shocked at the state of affairs. We do not rule out the possibility of a well-orchestrated drama (to free Nickole Tamang). How could he have walked out of the CID camp, when he was supposed to be in special custody? This defies all logic.”
“We want him to be re-arrested as soon as possible,” said Sherpa. The CPRM also echoed ABGL by stating, “The unfolding drama had given indications that there could be some understanding between the Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha”. Nickole was arrested a day before the tripartite talks in Delhi. He was, however, not taken into police custody immediately. But when there was public resentment, the CID sought his custody,” said D.S. Bomom, a spokesperson for the CPRM. “After the Morcha indirectly hinted at leaving out the Dooars and the Terai from the interim set-up for the hills during a meeting in Darjeeling on 22nd August by GJM Chief Bimal Gurung, we got to know that Nickole has escaped. There is enough scope for us to suspect that there is some understanding between the Bengal government and the Morcha,” he added.
Bengal Urban Development minister Asok Bhattacharya dismissed the Morcha’s charge that the police had liquidated Nickole Tamang. “It is a baseless allegation. The Morcha is trying to create propaganda in the hills to project Nickole, a suspected murderer, as an honourable man,” he said. He demanded a probe into Nickole’s escape and sought action on the policemen. “It is a shame that the prime accused in the Madan Tamang murder case could escape while being in police remand. We want an inquiry and action against the men found guilty,” said the minister.
Nickole, a graduate from Darjeeling Government College was the municipal contractor in Darjeeling. He had a good relation with Bimal Gurung since inception. “Nickole is very sensitive and kindhearted. He can’t be a murderer,” Bina Tamang, Nickole’s mother said.
