By IANS
Kolkata : A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team arrived in Kolkata Monday to further investigate the March 14 police firing in Nandigram in accordance with a state high court directive.
The team would leave for Nandigram, in East Midnapore district, around 150 km from here, either Monday or Tuesday, CBI sources said.
CBI director M.L. Sharma said a 10-member team headed by an officer of the rank of a Deputy Inspector General will probe the Mar 14 firing incident in which 14 people were killed and many injured.
The agency has registered a case to investigate the police firing at Adhikaripara and Gokulnagar in Nandigram.
On Nov 16, the Calcutta High Court had termed the police firing as “unjustified, unconstitutional” and “illegal” and directed the central investigation agency to continue its probe and asked it to submit a report within a month.
High court Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar had earlier initiated a suo motu case into the police firing and ordered a CBI probe. The agency had submitted a preliminary report on the incident, describing the police firing as “illegal”.
On Monday, the court also decided to hear a public suit seeking CBI probe into the recent Nandigram violence on Dec 3.
The matter came up before a division bench comprising Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice Tapen Sen. The petition was filed by Sabyasachi Roy Chowdhury and others.
After hearing counsel Kalyan Banerjee’s plea, the court said the matter would be heard Dec 3.
Besides seeking a CBI investigation into the alleged rape, murder and arson by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres during the Nov 5 and 12 violence in Nandigram, the petitioners also demanded compensation for the victims.
Meanwhile, a two-member team of the National Minorities Commission (NMC) met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to discuss the situation in the area. The team will visit the trouble-torn district Tuesday.
NMC member Harcharan Singh Josh told reporters they had received reports from various rights organisations and NGOs about the human rights violations there.
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.