KOLKATA: Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court on Friday released on personal grounds a revision application by the CBI against the discharge of GJM leader Bimal Gurung in the 2010 murder case of All India Gorkha League chief Madan Tamang by a sessions court.
The CBI moved the application challenging the discharge of Gurung, the chief of a faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), by the city sessions court here in 2017 at the charge framing stage.
Justice Ghosh, before whose court the matter appeared on Friday, released it on personal grounds and referred it back to acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for assignment to a different judge.
The sessions court had discharged Gurung from the case on August 17, 2017, rejecting the CBI's contention that the GJM leader was involved in the conspiracy to murder Tamang, one of his political opponents in the Darjeeling hills.
While discharging Gurung at the stage of framing of charges for trial in the case, the city court had directed that charges be framed against 47 other accused, including the GJM leader's wife Asha and other top leaders of the party.
Tamang was attacked with sharp weapons when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting at Clubside in the heart of Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010.
He was declared brought dead at the Sadar Hospital there.
The Supreme Court had on October 8, 2013, directed transfer of hearing in the case from Darjeeling Sadar court to the city sessions court in Kolkata on a petition by Tamang's widow Bharati.
She had claimed that witnesses could be impacted if the trial was held in Darjeeling.