Kolkata, Feb 15 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday submitted to the Calcutta High Court its report on the probe into the March 14 police firing in Nandigram that left 14 villagers dead and scores injured.
CBI counsel Ranjan Roy placed a sealed envelope containing the investigation report before the Calcutta High Court Registrar’s office since the matter was not listed for the day.
A two-judge bench of the court, presided by Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar, had ordered a probe into the violent episode of last year immediately after the police firing.
Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata in East Midnapore district, flared up in January 2007 over the proposed acquisition of land for a special economic zone (SEZ), including a chemical hub, in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group.
Fourteen people were killed and over a hundred injured in Nandigram March 14, 2007 when the police opened fire to quell a mob protesting the proposed take-over of agricultural lands for the SEZ. The plan was later scrapped by the state government in the face of stiff resistance.
The CBI Dec 17 submitted a preliminary report.
A week ago, CBI officials questioned the district magistrate of East Midnapore and a former superintendent of police in connection with the March 14 police firing.
District Magistrate Anup Agarwal and superintendent of police G.A. Srinivas were questioned at the CBI’s Nizam Palace office in Kolkata.
Thirty-five people have died in the violence in Nandigram since January 2007. A fresh bout of violence being unleashed in November after CPI-M cadres allegedly recaptured their lost bases in the area by launching a massive onslaught on the rival Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Prevent Farmland Acquisition).