By IANS
Kolkata : A West Bengal court Thursday rejected the bail plea of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Surhid Dutta, arrested last month in connection with the rape and murder of Singur girl Tapasi Malik, and again remanded him in judicial custody.
Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate of Chandannagore court Pradip Banerjee remanded Dutta in judicial custody till July 26.
Dutta’s lawyers had applied for bail and accused the by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of violating his human rights in their custody.
Dutta was arrested on the basis of interrogation of CPI-M worker Debu Malik, one of the prime accused in the murder of the girl whose charred body was found inside the fenced off area of the Tata Motors small car project on Dec 18.
Ths same court Saturday remanded Debu Malik in judicial custody for a fortnight.
Dutta’s arrest triggered angry reactions from the CPI-M with even communist patriarch Jyoti Basu commenting that CBI was traditionally against the Leftists.
Dutta, who was in jail custody after his production in the Chandannagore court a week back, had refused to undergo polygraph or lie detector tests under CBI earlier.
The CBI in Kolkata Wednesday released the sketches of four people who were allegedly involved in the killing on the basis of interrogation of Debu Malik and others.
Malik was in charge of the night guards of the project in Singur, about 40 km from here in Hooghly district.
Tapasi Malik was on the forefront of a movement protesting land acquisition for Tata Motor’s small car factory in Singur.
Around 997 acres in Singur have been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project. The issue has triggered a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.