The Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off the Sherkhanchowk area in Khejuri village, after five more suspected graves were detected in Nandigram.
KOLKATA: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) cordoned off the Sherkhanchowk area in Khejuri village, the stronghold of the CPI(M) during its private war against the opposition, after five more suspected graves were detected in Nandigram on Friday.
The CRPF was tipped off about some unnatural mounds in the earth by locals, after which Central forces led by assistant commandant Arun Kumar Upadhayay threw a cordon around the site till such time a magistrate was called before digging operations could start. Upadhayay said preliminary investigations did not indicate the presence of any human body underneath but a categorical conclusion could be drawn only after the mounds are dug up in the presence of a magistrate.
If the mounds are indeed found to be graves, it would be a third discovery of bodies buried in the killing fields of Nandigram. On December 3, Central security forces unearthed charred bones and limbs from five graves by the roadside in Mahespur. On December 13, the CRPF dug up a grave in the middle of paddy fields in Parulbari to recover a decomposed body.
Both the CPI(M) and the opposition claimed it to be of their supporters, with two women from rival camps laying claim to it saying it was of their husbands’. Between December 3 and December 13, the CRPF had dredged the Talpatti canal that separated the CPI(M) and opposition strongholds in Nandigram to recover large number of severed human appendages and charred bones.
All human bodies and remains recovered in Nandigram have been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratories for forensic and DNA testing. The result of the tests would decide the agency that will further probe the Nandigram violence.
If the killings are found to have happened around the time of the March 14 police firing, CBI will have the jurisdiction to investigate as per a directive of the Calcutta high court. In case the crime has happened at a later date, West Bengal CID will take charge of the probe.
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