The inquiry officer of DGHC, D T Lepcha, had lodged a complaint on April 17 alleging that Sonam had illegally collected files from the DGHC office at Darjeeling in November last year.

Sonam’s advocate Shekhar Bose moved a plea that Sonam had collected 117 files from the DGHC office on November 28 while it was being ransacked by the supporters of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM).

He kept the files with him as no DGHC official was allowed to enter the office during the strike of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha from November 21 to 28.

The Darjeeling Sadar police raided his house on March 11 and seized the files without any search warrant.

Also, following the raid, the SP Darjeeling took disciplinary action against the officials of the Sadar police.