www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, Sept. 21: Darjeeling police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) today launched a joint operation in some of the villages of the hill subdivision in search of the members of the United Gorkha Revolutionary Army (UGRA).

The organisation — supposedly the armed wing of the United Gorkha Revolutionary Front formed by former CISF jawan Ajay Dahal — had announced the launch of an armed struggle for the separate state of Gorkhaland about a fortnight ago.

The operation comes on a day Ram Rai (24), an alleged member of the UGRA, was arrested from the interior village of Santok.

“We arrested Rai and recovered some posters from him,” district police superintendent Rajesh Subarna told The Telegraph. Two days ago, the police had arrested another suspected UGRA member, Asish Rai, from the same village. An improvised gun, two rounds of live cartridges and some posters had been seized from him.

Binod Bhujel and Rodrique Lepcha from Suruk, a village neighbouring Algarah, about 15 km from here, have also been picked up on suspicion of having links with Dahal. Residents said the duo had been taken away by the police in the morning, though the latter refused to admit it.

They, however, confirmed the arrival of a contingent of CRPF personnel to take part in the search operation in the densely-forested interiors of the Algarah-Lava-Gorubathan belt. “We had sought additional resources given that these areas have dense forests,” was all Subarna offered. He, however, ruled out the existence of any training camps set up by the organisation.