CBI team to visit ground zero today

NANDIGRAM: The key witnesses to the March 14 Nandigram carnage are the sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and constables who were collected from several police stations in south Bengal and stationed in Nandigram, before a joint operation with armed CPM cadres to recapture the villages was launched.

Were they asked to open fire at villagers? Who issued the orders? Who else participated in the carnage? These are some of the questions the Central Bureau of Investigation will seek answers to. Besides, the statements of lower-ranked cops, material evidence collected by CBI officers during their earlier visit to the area and related documents could come in handy.

But it's not going to be easy to get hold of all the people involved in the March 14 firing, which was declared unconstitutional by the Calcutta High Court.

Most of the people have since then returned to their respective places and may have been transferred as well. For example, the then IG (western zone) Arun Gupta, the senior-most IPS officer who took part in the operation, is now IG (administration).

Eight months have passed since that fateful day.

Physical evidence already stands destroyed. The CBI will have to depend on all those they had collected in March after visiting the battle-ravaged villages.

The case was re-opened on Sunday after the CBI re-registered three cases which had already been initiated by CID.

The 10-member CBI team arrived in Haldia on Monday evening. The team will visit Nandigram on Tuesday.

Their task is cut-out: The police firing on the villagers on March 14 was illegal. CPM came under fire from all quarters after the March 14 incident, with allegations that party cadres carrying arms led the operation with cops. Some even wore khaki uniform.

CBI sources said the agency is yet to receive all the documents that the state home department was asked to furnish. The agency is now collecting some documents on its own and will take some more from Nandigram police station.

From the officers stationed there, the CBI team has to find out how far the rules were bent on March 14.

These documents could help in identifying senior IPS officers who ordered their subordinates to fire at the procession of villagers supporting the Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), led by women and children. They will also have to find out the exact number of bullets that were fired from the fire-arms belonging to the police.

The CBI team is likely to interrogate the cops and BUPC members to verify statements and find out the discrepancies in the events that unfolded in Nandigram.

In March, when the CBI team first visited Nandigram, they had raided a brick kiln at Khejury, opposite Nandigram, and arrested 10 people with arms.

They had also seized six police helmets and long-range rifles, both sets hinting that outsiders could have been present during the assault.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com