The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to respond to a plea filed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri seeking transfer of his trial in 2010 Madan Tamang murder case from Kolkata to Sikkim apprehending serious law and order crisis.
A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and posted the matter for hearing to August 11.
Giri has been charged with alleged "criminal conspiracy for murder", along with several other GJM leaders, in the case of Tamang, who was the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) president.
Darjeeling in north Bengal has been on the boil in the wake of the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The West Bengal government has ruled out bifurcation of the state and has alleged that money from Nepal was being pumped in to fuel the agitation.
Giri's counsel had told the court that if he was to appear in court to face the murder trial, then there would be a serious law and order situation in Kolkata and it might pose a threat to his life.
He had said that in view of the agitation in Darjeeling, it was very likely that a serious law and order situation would arise if he was made to go to Kolkata to face the trial.
The state government's counsel had argued that the court should seek a report from the military intelligence on the stir and that would make everything clear.
The counsel had claimed that Giri wanted his trial to be shifted to Sikkim as its chief minister has extended his support to the GJM's demand.
The CBI has indicted the entire top leadership of the GJM for the murder of the AIGL president. Besides Giri, GJM president Bimal Gurung is among the nine top leaders named in the charge sheet.
Gurung, his wife Asha and several senior leaders of the hill outfit had surrendered before a trial court which granted them bail in the murder case.
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