Sikkim police arrest six people for assault on ex-assembly Speaker KN Rai

The Sikkim Police have arrested six persons in connection with the assault on the former Sikkim Assembly Speaker KN Rai in the state’s Namchi district, an officer said on Saturday.

The former Speaker of the Sikkim Assembly and senior Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader KN Rai, and party spokesperson SK Timshina were assaulted by unidentified men in Melli town on Friday afternoon.

Rai was admitted to a private hospital at Siliguri in the neighbouring state of West Bengal. A doctor at the hospital said Rai’s condition was stable and he should be fine in five to six days.

Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) president and former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling visited the hospital to meet his injured party colleague and wished him a speedy recovery.

Chamling blamed Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang for the “prevalence of lawlessness” in Sikkim and demanded his resignation on moral grounds.

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He said that Tamang’s style of governance was responsible for the attack on the SDF vice-president Rai.

Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Namchi district, Tshering Namgyal Gyatso, told reporters that an intensive combing and search operation was launched on Friday night by several police teams in which the accused Laxman Rai, Jiten Rai and David Rai were arrested from the Kubindey Jungle.

Another accused, Avan Tamang was arrested near the Melli Gumpa Area, while Karan Tamang and Saroj Thapa were apprehended from the Tiveni jungle.

They have been charged under sections 307 (attempted murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 324 (causing grievous harm with dangerous weapons), 427 (mischief causing damage), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the SP said.

The SP also said that the accused persons were being interrogated to find out their motive behind assaulting the former Speaker of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly and others.

An SDF functionary, Dr Shiva Prasad Timsina, had lodged an FIR at Melli police station, giving details of the attack.

Timsina, in the complaint, said that the accused persons had arrived in an SUV at Maji Gaon and assaulted Rai and others before speeding away.