CBI team visits Nandigram to probe March killings

By IANS

Kolkata : An eight-member team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) visited Nandigram in West Bengal Wednesday for further investigation into the March 14 police firing that left 14 people dead and over 100 injured.


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The team, led by CBI Superintendent of Police R.R. Sahay, visited Nandigram College and Khejuri, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) stronghold in Nandigram block of East Midnapore district, to interact with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officials and local villagers.

The officials of the investigating agency also met CRPF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Alok Raj to enquire about the current situation there.

The Calcutta High Court had directed the CBI to continue its probe into the police firing and submit a report to the court within a month.

The CBI has already registered a case at Adhikaripara and Gokulnagar in Nandigram March 14. The agency also arrested 10 CPI-M supporters from the Janani brick kiln March 17 with firearms, ammunition and CPI-M party flags and posters.

Meanwhile, CPI-M central committee leader Shymal Chakraborty, who went to Nandigram Tuesday with party leaders, met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to apprise him of the current situation in the troubled zone.

Earlier, Chakraborty and CPI-M MP Mohammed Salim accused the CRPF of bias and harassing party workers the trouble-torn area.

Violence in Nandigram has claimed 34 lives since January, when the region flared up over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ).

The state government scrapped the plan later in the face of stiff resistance from local villagers but political violence continued till earlier this month when central forces had to be deployed there.

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