By IANS
Kolkata : Recovery of burnt wood, bicycle tyres and torn pieces of sari from a grave-like structure sparked fresh fears of discovery of another burial ground in West Bengal’s Nandigram Friday, but the police said it was a false alarm.
The police said local people had informed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel about five fresh burial mounds near Sherkhanchak in Khejuri, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) stronghold, adjacent to Nandigram.
“Nothing was found in the so-called grave-like structures. It was wrong information,” East Midnapore Police Superintendent S.S. Panda told IANS.
CRPF commandant A.K. Upadhyay said the mounds were dug up but nothing was found. The Khejuri police station has been informed about the incident.
“We are probing how the charred wood, tyres and pieces of cloth and bangles came up at the spot,” Upadhyay said.
On Dec 5, five burial mounds were found on the side of a road at Khejuri near Nandigram from which charred skeletal remains were unearthed. Another decapitated body of a youth, with the head and body packed in separate gunny bags, was dug up from a burial mound at Maheshpur near Nandigram recently.
Nandigram, located about 150 km from Kolkata in East Midnapore district, 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 of villagers.
Thirty-five people have died in Nandigram violence with a fresh bout of violence unleashed in November after the CPI-M cadres allegedly recaptured their lost bases in the area by launching a massive onslaught on the rival anti-land acquisition Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC).