CPM leaders fear sabotage by Ghosh

23 August 2011

Activists of rival camp apprehend arrest
biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 23 AUG: Following the arrest of former paschimanchal unnayan affairs minister Mr Susanta Ghosh, local district CPI-M leaders, especially those who belong to Mr Ghosh's rival camp, are apprehending that they may be framed by the leader. CPI-M leaders of the Garbeta and Keshpur areas think that the former minister, who is now in jail custody, may drag in their names to save himself.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is reportedly preparing to arrest more CPI-M leaders in connection with the skeleton and arms recovery case. “While interrogating Mr Ghosh, we have got names of some other leaders who may be involved in the incident. The interrogation is still going on and we may make more arrests,” said Mr K Jayaraman, deputy inspector general (operation) of CID.
During interrogation, Mr Ghosh, who belongs to CPI-M district secretary and state secretariat member Mr Dipak Sarkar's lobby, has already pointed fingers at the party’s local leaders belonging to Mr Tarun Roy's lobby for stockpiling arms and ammunition to fight against the Maoists. He even admitted involvement of senior police officers in building armed resistance against Maoists, a CID official said.
“We are not sure whether Mr Ghosh has revealed our names before the CID. It is true that several armed camps were set up across Junglemahal to resist the Maoists, but all the planning was done in the presence of different district committee leaders. Local leaders merely followed the directives and implemented the planning," a CPI-M local committee leader, who is staying outside his village to escape arrest, said.
According to CID officers, investigation into the skeleton case is now in its final stage. They say the evidence is being summed up and a charge-sheet will soon be filed. On Monday, Biman Ghosh, another CPI-M leader and accused in the case, was produced before the Midnapore chief judicial magistrate's court. He was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
This apart, the CID officials hinted that it had got names of seven inter-state arms smugglers who are believed to have close links with Mr Ghosh.
The CID collected information about these people from Garbeta police station on Monday, sources said. The investigators hinted that Biman Ghosh, a distant relative of Mr Ghosh and a CPI-M leader of Piyashal village, has revealed some important information about the arm rackets. The investigating agency has reasons to believe that information revealed by him will help them trace key persons in the racket.
Accordingly, the CID officers on Monday pumped out water from the pond located on the premises of Garbeta police station, but found nothing from it. The CID had been tipped off that CPI-M men had dumped arms in the pond. They also dug up the area beside the pond in search of arms.