The CBI on Monday filed a charge sheet against 20 persons in connection with the January 7 Netai village firing in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district in which nine persons were killed.
Twelve out of the 20 people named are directly connected to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), according to the charge sheet. This could be awkward for the ruling Left Front government — coming as it does ahead of the crucial Assembly polls.
“The charge sheet was submitted before the Jhargram sub-divisional court. While 12 of those named in it are already in judicial custody, the whereabouts of eight persons are not known,” CBI counsel Partha Tapaswi told The Hindu .
Mr. Tapaswi added that arrest warrants for the eight, including district CPI(M) leaders Anuj Pandey and his brother Dalim Pandey, Chandi Karan, Md. Khaliluddin, Fullora Mondal, Joydeb Giri, Tapan Dey and Rathin Dandapat, were issued on Monday.
The 20 people have been charged under Sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons), 307 (attempt to murder) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
“The court has taken cognisance of the charges and the next day of hearing has been fixed for April 8,” Mr. Tapaswi said.
Though initially probed by the Criminal Investigation Department of the State government, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the CBI on February 18 citing insufficient progress made by the CID in identifying the suspects in the Netai massacre.
The CID had released photographs of six accused persons on February 12 and announced cash reward of Rs. 50,000 for information about them.
The State government had in the meantime moved the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court order, but the motion was rejected.
With influential CPI(M) leaders being named as absconders in the charge sheet, it appears to strengthen the Trinamool Congress' repeated claims that armed camps were being run in the region under the leadership of senior CPI(M) leaders.
