Gurung meets MK.....Actor sent to Jail

TT, Darjeeling, June 5: Bimal Gurung today met governor M.K. Narayanan who assured the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president that there would be no “police excesses” on innocent people in the hills in the wake of the murder of ABGL leader Madan Tamang.

The visit came two days after the police arrested three people in connection with Tamang’s murder last month.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri, who was part of the six-member delegation that met Narayanan, claimed that the governor had assured the outfit that “police excesses on innocent people (in the hills) would not be allowed”.

The CID has claimed that Morcha activists were involved in Tamang’s murder. The agency has accused Nicol Tamang, a central committee leader of the Morcha, of being connected with the crime.

Morcha media secretary Harka Bahadur Chhetri had said the party would “disown anybody who is found involved” in Tamang’s murder).

Today, Narayanan reportedly requested Gurung to carry on with the talks to “solve the impasse in the Darjeeling hills” over the interim set-up.

Please mind the GAP

Ishan Joshi, SNS: Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh, that results in the delectable acronym, GAP, is the new aim of Bimal Gurung and Co who say the geographical markers of the putative state formerly known as Gorkhaland ought to include large tracts of the north Bengal foothills historically identified as the dwelling of the adivasi or tribal population. Still engaged in a damage-control exercise after the murder of moderate Gorkhaland leader Madan Tamang for which a Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council contractor said to be “close to the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha leadership” along with two others has been picked up, the GAP seems to be the response of those advising Gurung to be “more inclusive” and/or to raise the stakes at the negotiating table. It won’t work.
Primarily, because inclusiveness is not susceptible to sudden appearance by a tweak of nomenclature. And fundamentally, and I say this as a proponent of Gorkhaland in particular and smaller states in general, because most of those who support the formation of a separate state in the Hills do so on the twin planks of the will of the people (of the area) and their unique ~ when compared to the rest of West Bengal ~ ethnic, linguistic, cultural, developmental concerns. For both the above reasons, do mind the GAP. 
Actor Raghubir Yadav  sent to Jail custody

PTI, Mumbai: Bollywood actor and theatre artist Raghubir Yadav, arrested in connection with an alimony case lodged by his estranged wife, was on Saturday remanded to judicial custody till Monday by a suburban family court here.

Raghubir, against whom a warrant had been issued by the Bandra family court last September for failing to appear before it despite regular summons, was arrested at Mumbai Central railway station on Friday night.

His wife Purnima had approached the court in 2002 after the actor failed to pay maintenance for over four years.

“The duo tied the knot in 1988, but got divorced in 1996. He was directed to pay alimony of Rs.20,000 per month, which was later brought down to Rs.10,000. Till date, Raghubir has not paid a single paisa to Purnima. There are arrears of Rs 4.5 lakh,” Purnima's lawyer Sumangala Biradar told PTI.

Raghubir told the court on Saturday that he was facing a financial crunch and could afford to pay only Rs.20,000 of the arrears.

“The court did not accept this argument and remanded him to judicial custody. He has to pay Purnima at least 50 per cent of the arrears if he wants to come out,” Biradar said.

“Till 2007, I had a job, but now I am trying to make ends meet. Raghubir is not even ready to help our son Achal. When Achal went to ask him for money for his education, Raghubir refused and said he would do so only if I dropped the case against him,” Purnima said.

Raghubir has acted in several movies like ‘ Delhi 6', ‘ Firaaq' and ‘ Darna Mana Hai' and also several TV serials and theatre productions.

The actor, who had been evading arrest since September, was spotted in the Mumbai-bound Rajdhani Express by Purnima, who was also travelling by the same train. Purnima alerted the Government Railway Police officials at Mumbai Central railway station, who arrested Raghubir and handed him over to the suburban Dindoshi police. The Dindoshi police last December had told the court that Raghubir was untraceable.

A poem from Sunakhari Samachar, 6 June 2010