CPI-M leader who returned home after 11 years following Nandigram land agitation found dead at nearby forest in Khejuri

CPI-M leader who returned home after 11 years following Nandigram land agitation found dead at nearby forest in Khejuri  

“Debabrata alias Debu was a serious party leader and he could not return home since the Nandigram land agitation and subsequent political turmoil. Yesterday, he returned home, but he has been killed due to political reason. The real culprits should be arrested soon”.

Biswabrata Goswami

MIDNAPORE, 5JULY:

Mystery shrouds the death of a CPI-M leader at Baratala under Khejuri police station limits in East Midnapore whose body was found at nearby Bamunchawk forest early this morning.

Debabrata Bhunia (54), a CPI-M Baratala branch committee member, had been staying outside the village for the last 11 years. On Saturday, he returned his house to attend a case lodged against him in the Contai court. And after visiting the court, he went to the party office at Baratala and talked with the leaders and workers.

As in the night, he did not return his house, the family members started searching him, but his body was found lying inside the nearby Bamunchawk forest this morning, said Mahmud Hossain, a CPI-M leader.

The prominent CPI-M leader, Himangshu Das in Khejuri, who also returned his house nearly 11 years after the Nandigram land agitation, said, “Debabrata alias Debu was a serious party leader and he could not return home since the Nandigram land agitation and subsequent political turmoil. Yesterday, he returned home, but he has been killed due to political reason. The real culprits should be arrested soon”.

Das was named in a CID chargesheet, along with former MP Lakshman Seth, for their alleged role during the violent land agitation in 2007. Das had remained unofficially banned from the village since June 2009 when alleged Trinamul Congress groups destroyed his home.

Das, along with 1,000 CPM workers, were driven out of Khejuri. Though many returned home later, Das continued to live at a rented flat in Haldia.

Alike Das, Bhunia was driven out by the TMC workers during 2009 and since then he used to stay outside the village in his relative’s house.

To protest against the killing, the CPI-M leaders comprising Das, Hossain, Jaharaja Ali, Jagannath Doloi, Tapas Mishra and others launched an agitation at Henria market where they demanded immediate arrest of the assailants.