Karnataka - Bangalore   

Police favour legislation on Gorkhas' entry

THE RECENT arrest of three Nepali Gorkhas on charges of murdering and robbing a watchman has once again showed that the "Gorkha menace" continues in the city.

The Kamakshipalya police arrested Shankar Bahadur, Dyan Bahadur, and Namraj Bahadur of Bajahang district in Nepal. These persons had allegedly murdered the watchman of Shell Apparels at Sunkadakatte here and made away with Rs. 4.65 lakh. Four Gorkhas accused in the crime are still at large.

In the past four years, the city police have arrested more than 50 Nepali Gorkha watchmen who had allegedly committed murders, burglaries, and dacoity here. In 2003, the 23rd Additional City Civil and Sessions Court sentenced eight Gorkhas to five years rigorous imprisonment for planning to loot the Vijaya Bank branch near Central College on April 21, 2002.

The most shocking of the "Gorkha crimes" came to light in April 2002, when the Upparpet police arrested a gang of eight Gorkhas which was allegedly involved in five murders.

The police said the Gorkha gang had murdered the security guards of the SJR College's Rajajinagar and Anand Rao Circle branches, the watchmen of the Vasanthnagar post office, a private computer education institute in Koramangala and a gas cylinder firm at Jalahalli. In April 2001, the Frazer Town police arrested seven Gorkha watchmen who had allegedly committed 11burglaries and recovered property worth over Rs. 1 lakh from them. Seven members of the gang who had fled to Nepal have still not been caught.

Many of the crimes in which Gorkhas were allegedly involved have remained unsolved and property worth over Rs. 1 crore stolen by them are yet to be recovered. As the accused have reportedly disposed of the stolen goods in Nepal, the police are finding it difficult to recover them because of legal hurdles. Though the City Crime Branch (CCB) was authorised to coordinate with the agencies concerned to get the absconding persons back to India, nothing has materialised.

In one case, the security forces on the India-Nepal border had caught the Gorkhas who were trying to enter Nepal along with the goods they had allegedly stolen from Giriya's showroom here.

Though there has been an influx of the Gorkhas from Nepal and other Indian States, particularly Andhra Pradesh, to Bangalore, no mechanism is in place to keep a tab on the new entrants.

A few years ago, the police had suggested that every new Gorkha who came to the city should register himself with the Gorkha associations by submitting his personal details and a photograph.

However, the three Gorkha associations here claim that their interaction with the police is limited and most of the new Gorkhas do not register with them.

Senior police officials say that Nepal being a friendly nation, the police cannot prevent Gorkhas from coming here or keep each one of them under surveillance.

They feel the need for having some legislation in this regard. The police say that they have informally advised the public to be cautious while employing Gorkhas.

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