Tension grips Nandigram as ‘charred bodies’ hidden by police and CPM leaders are recoverd

Tension grips Nandigram as ‘charred bodies’ hidden by police and CPM leaders are recoverd

kolkata • Tension again gripped Nandigram after recovery of two charred and decomposed bodies yesterday by anti-land acquisition members in the aftermath of the killings of 14 people in police firing last month during a protest over a special economic zone (SEZ).

The bodies were first taken to a local hospital for post-mortem, but were later sent for forensic test, as the condition of the bodies was too bad to be taken for autopsy.

“We have no information of bodies recovered from the area but of four bones. We have already sent that for forensic examination to ascertain if they were human remains,” Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said here. “We are probing the recovery,” he said.

“The bodies were totally charred when the members of Bhumi Uchched Parirodh Committee (Committee to Prevent Land Eviction) recovered them from a betel plantation near Bhanagabera area. We believe one of the two bodies is of a child,” said Abdus Samad, leader of the committee.

Samad alleged that the cadres of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had killed both the villagers during March 14 police operation and dumped them in that place. Soon after the news spread out, huge contingent of police was deployed in Bhangabera.

Ten suspected CPI-M men were arrested along with arms and ammunition from a brick kiln at Khejuri, adjacent to Nandigram, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team that probed the March 14 firing.