Kolkata(IANS) : Seven bombs and some cartridge shells have been recovered from a brick kiln in Khejuri near West Bengal’s trouble-torn Nandigram in a joint operation conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and paramilitary forces.
Ten suspected foot soldiers of the state’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had earlier been arrested from the same kiln with a cache of arms and ammunition in March.
A Central Reserve Paramilitary Force (CRPF) team on a search mission Friday found five bombs behind a heap of bricks and pressed a sniffer dog into service. It later detected two more.
A CBI team had found 10 guns, bullets, bombs and red flags from 10 men holed up there March 17.
“Those who brought the bombs here possibly wanted to terrorise people who spoke to the CBI sleuths here Thursday about the March 14 police firing in Nandigram,” a CRPF officer said.
The CBI sleuths met the families of the March 14 victims at Sonachura, Gangra, Adhikarypara, Jalpai and Mandalpara.
The intelligence agency had asked the CRPF to intensify vigil after hearing complaints about CPI-M supporters threatening people for speaking to the sleuths, local reports said.
“We have also recovered some cartridge shells from the brick kiln,” said Alok Raj, deputy inspector general heading the CRPF in Nandigram.
The raid has sent shudders among CPI-M ranks in Khejuri. The party’s East Midnapore district secretariat member Asok Guria refused to comment on the raid.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Guria said.
Senior CPI-M leader Shayamal Chakraborty had earlier complained that CRPF was acting in tandem with the Trinamool Congress and harassing CPI-M workers.
Meanwhile, two pipe guns were found in a heap of garbage at Sonachura Bazar in Nandigram, about 10 km from the kiln, Friday.
The place used to be a hub of the Trinamool Congress-led Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC).
Violence in Nandigram, around 150 km from Kolkata, has claimed 35 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 villagers.
While on March 14 at least 14 people died and several were injured during police firing on the villagers who resisted entry of cops in their area, Nandigram continued to simmer with intermittent gunfights as a turf battle ensued between the CPI-M and the rival BUPC.
Since Nov 5, a massive onslaught was launched by alleged CPI-M men, who ‘recaptured’ their lost bases in the area, and ensured return of their people who earlier had to flee the villages in fear of the BUPC, a Trinamool Congress backed group formed to resist land acquisition.
Several villagers died while many sustained bullet injuries and some women were raped during the recapture operation, allegedly carried out by CPI-M supporters.