HC directs WB govt to place status report on Nandigram

KOLKATA: The CBI has said it was unable to come to conclusion whether the use of force in Nandigram, scene of protests against land acquisition move, on March 14 was justified even as Calcutta High Court on Wednesday asked West Bengal
government to place before it on Thursday a status report on the situation there.

In it report submitted to the High Court, the CBI said "it would be possible to ascertain the quantum of force used and its justification and the actual happenings only in a thorough and detailed investigation."

Stating that it could not carry out a detailed investigation due to time crunch, the CBI said its team had confined its inquiries to the mandate given by the court.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice SS Nijjar and Justice PC Ghose, after going through the report, read out one paragraph in the open court while directing that the rest of it would remain under sealed cover till further direction.

The High Court, a day after 14 persons were killed in Nandigram, had directed the CBI to inquire. The agency had submitted its report on March 22.

Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for one of the several petitioners in the case, submitted that the situation in Nandigram was very volatile and that one person had been killed and some others injured in fresh clashes last Sunday.

Trouble has been continuing in Nandigram in East Midnapore district since January over land acquisition for setting up a chemical hub. The government has subsequently declared that the plan to set up the hub there had been dropped.