Skeletons recovered again

29 August 2011

statesman news service
MIDNAPORE, 29 AUG: In a fresh discovery, bones and three human skeletons were dug up from an area in Goaltore, West  Midnapore, a day after one was unearthed at Kundrisole forest in the same area.
Local Trinamul Congress workers claimed that the recovered skeletons could be those of their supporters who were abducted in March 2010 by armed CPI-M  cadres. The CPI-M cadres had kidnapped many Trinamul workers when they had unleashed a reign of terror at several nearby villages for putting up an “armed resistance” against Maoists, the Trinamul workers said.
One Sufia Bibi of Lalitpur identified a skeleton as that of her husband Soukat Khan after recognising the clothes unearthed along with the skeletons.
“My husband was an active Trinamul worker. In March, 2010, some armed CPI-M cadres kidnapped him on the suspicion that he was a Maoist and since then, he had been missing,” said Sufia. Police have taken the skeletons and bones to Midnapore for forensic tests and a DNA test.
Yesterday, local Trinamul supporters caught hold of three CPI-M activists ~ Lalu Rana, Kanai Goila and Samed Gayen ~ who provided them clues to the body of a missing Trinamul worker. After digging a pit, a human skull, bones and a torn shirt were found. Mr Bapi Karak, a resident of nearby Sundargeria village, claimed that the skeleton is that of his father Sudarshan who was allegedly abducted by armed CPI-M men from his house on 4 June, 2010. “I have identified the shirt as my father’s and even police found that it was made by a local tailor of Sundargeria whose tag was on the collar,” Bapi told  reporters.
Chandana, daughter of the deceased, alleged that last year police had refused to register any complaint when they went to the police station to lodge his father’s abduction case. Later, Bapi lodged an FIR with the Goaltore police station against 23 persons, all CPI-M men, including the Goaltore’s former CPI-M MLA Mr Krishna Duley and zilla parishad member Mr Tarasankar Biswas.
Meanwhile, a murder case has been initiated against Mrs Antara Bhattacharya, the CPI-M Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati in West  Midnapore, following the recovery of another human skeleton from a village at Narayangarh, the constituency of former CPI-M minister and leader of the opposition, Dr Surjya Kanta Mishra.
Ms Arati Das, a resident of Pingla, had earlier claimed that the skeleton was that of her husband Prabodh. She had also lodged a murder complaint naming Mrs Bhattacharya, three CPI-M district committee members Mr Anil Patra, Mr Sudhansu Bera and Mr Kalipada Mana, Zilla Parishad member-in-charge of PWD Mr Sisir Mahapatra and 31 other CPI-M workers.
The investigating police have already arrested two CPI-M men ~ Ratan Das and Subol Sheet ~ soon after the FIR was lodged. They were yesterday produced before the Midnapore court where the magistrate remanded them in police custody for five days. The recent recovery of skeletons is another  indication of political violence unleashed against Congress and Trinamul Congress activists by the CPI-M cadres, Mr OP Mishra, spokesman of the state unit of the Congress said today. These skeletons are a proof of the assault on assault on democracy and the Congress fully supports the pro-active role of the state government to unearth these crimes, he added.  
By Biswabrata Goswami