CBI submits Nandigram report to court, hearing on Monday
Kolkata : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday submitted its preliminary report on the March 14 Nandigram killings before the Calcutta High Court.
The hearing of the report, which reportedly has brought out glaring anomalies in the police versions of the firing, is scheduled on Monday.
The CBI submitted the much-speculated report before the division bench of Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, which ordered the CBI probe after 14 people were killed when the police fired at crowds protesting against the acquisition of farmland for a special economic zone (SEZ).
The division bench also asked the state government, which has been under attack since the incident, to file its affidavit on the incident by Monday.
The CBI has reportedly found anomalies in the police version of 37 rounds of firing since at least 38 bodies received bullet injuries and 14 died in the firing.
It has also apparently found that a large number of spent bullets recovered from the scene of the incident did not match the type of ammunition used by the police, pointing the needle of suspicion towards CPI-M cadres who allegedly entered in police uniform and raped several women during the police operation.
The CBI was also intrigued by the fact that no policeman sustained bullet injuries though the police claimed they were attacked with firearms.
The CBI was also said to be surprised how the entire operation was completed within 15 minutes when the steps that precede police firing -- baton charge, teargas and firing of rubber bullets - take much longer time.
Ten suspected Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) men were arrested along with arms and ammunition Saturday from a brick kiln at Khejuri adjacent to Nandigram by the investigating CBI team.
The CBI team arrested the men from Ma Janani Brick Field near Nandigram and seized from them 20 firearms and ammunition, including six helmets of the type used by police -- almost corroborating the claims of the villagers that the CPI-M men attacked them posing as cops.
Two CPI-M flags were also found in their room. They were later handed over to police in East Midnapore.
After a brief lull, Nandigram witnessed fresh tension Wednesday as Trinamool Congress supporters ransacked an office of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at Tekkhali after bombs were allegedly hurled on a procession taken out by the former.
