By IANS
Kolkata : A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) team Wednesday stumbled upon five burial mounds at Khejuri near Nandigram, which has seen large-scale political violence this year.
“We received information from local villagers that five bodies have been buried on the side of the Tentuntala Road near the Nandigram College in Khejuri. When we went to the spot, we found five burial mounds – four on one side and one on the other. We have informed the local police who have started an inquiry,” Deputy Inspector General (CRPF) Alok Raj told IANS.
“The bodies have not been exhumed so far. It is up to the police to decide,” he said.
“We were on routine patrolling when some women came to us and said the bodies of those killed in a blast at the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) party office in East Midnapore’s Sherkhanchowk Oct 27 have been buried on the side of a road. We went to the spot along with the local police and found the mounds,” he said.
The discovery of the burial mounds created tension in the area.
A team of CRPF and senior officials was camping at the spot.
“We have started an inquiry after receiving information from the CRPF, but cannot say anything before a post-mortem examination is done on the bodies,” East Midnapore Superintendent of Police S.S. Panda told IANS.
Three activists of West Bengal’s ruling CPI-M were reportedly killed and five injured in an explosion at the party office at Sherkhanchowk Oct 27.
Nandigram, in East Midnapore district and about 150 km from Kolkata, flared up in January over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ), including a chemical hub – a plan that was scrapped by the state government later in the face of stiff resistance from villagers.
Thirty-five people have died in Nandigram since January this year. A fresh bout of violence was unleashed earlier November after the CPI-M cadres ‘recaptured’ their lost bases in the area by launching a massive onslaught on the rival Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) members.