Body of former Sikkim minister found floating in Teesta in B’desh

Siliguri: The body of 80-year-old Ram Chandra Poudyal — a prominent pro-democratic politician and a former Sikkim minister — was found late Tuesday floating in the Teesta in Bangladesh, nine days after he had gone missing from his hometown in Sikkim’s Chhota Singtam.
Poudyal had been the deputy speaker of the first Sikkim assembly — from 1975 to 1977 — and later became a cabinet minister of the forest and land and land reforms department.The Sikkim cops had set up a special investigation team (SIT) after the veteran politician was first reported missing on July 7, along with a cash reward for leads.
According to the Bangladesh police, they saw a body floating on the Teesta at 10.41pm. They said they immediately fished the body out, clicked pictures for identification and circulated it. “After we recovered the body, we took the pictures and circulated it to the Indian police at Cooch Behar,” said a Bangladesh police officer. “We later came to know that the deceased was from Sikkim. Later that night, we handed over the body to the Indian police,” he added.