Grave riddle in Nandigram by Anshuman Phadikar (http://telegraphindia.com/1071206/asp/frontpage/story_8635799.asp)
Khejuri, Dec. 5: The CRPF today stumbled upon five mounds of earth resembling graves in a field in East Midnapore's Khejuri.
If bodies are found inside and their identity established, the findings could throw fresh light on allegations that outsiders were brought in by the CPM to help the party recapture Nandigram. Khejuri had remained a CPM stronghold even at the peak of resistance in Nandigram.
Alok Raj, the deputy inspector-general of the CRPF, said the central force was tipped off that some bodies had been buried in Khejuri.
A CRPF posse reached Bamunchak village, about 1km from the heart of Khejuri, at 4am today and carried out a search. On the side of a road, they found the five mounds that looked like graves.
The CRPF had gone prepared with spades and crowbars but the mounds could not be touched as the mandatory magistrate's order was not available.
The East Midnapore superintendent of police, S.S. Panda, said the matter would be thoroughly probed. "But as for exhuming the bodies, we will not do anything in a hurry as villagers' sentiments are involved," he added.
Raj, the CRPF officer, said he had been told by police that five persons who were killed in a bomb blast at Sherkhanchowk in Khejuri on the night of October 27 were cremated and their remains were buried there.
"But we found several discrepancies in the versions of family members of those killed on that day and local residents. We have asked the police to carry out a thorough probe. Generally, bodies are cremated in a shamshan. Why should funeral pyres be lit on the roadside?" Raj asked.
On October 27 night, gunfights were reported across the Nandigram-Khejuri divide, and five alleged CPM bomb-makers had died in an accidental explosion around midnight. Three persons —Sunil Bar, 45, Bachan Das, 24, and Gobinda Singh, 37 — were killed on the spot while Gour Das, 24, and Srimanta Das, 35, died in Tamluk district hospital later. Gobinda was from Belda in West Midnapore, 50km from Khejuri, while the rest were from Gokulnagar, 10km from the mounds.
The four from Gokulnagar had fled their homes to the CPM's relief camp at Sherkhanchowk.
Local police suspect that the mounds were the graves of these five persons.
However, the CRPF could not find till late this evening any villager who had seen funeral pyres.
"Some villagers told us that the ground was dug up and some mutilated bodies were buried there. They added that as the graves were not deep enough, dogs dug out limbs. The area was filled with stench. Then one night, unidentified people re-dug the graves and the bodies were properly buried," a CRPF officer said. "We feel there is more to it than meets the eye."
The CRPF team questioned the relatives of some of the five who died. "Initially, Kabita, the widow of Bachan Das, told us that she was present at her husband's funeral. But she changed her statement and confessed she was not present," an officer said.
Sunil Bar's widow, Sharmila, could not identify the spot where her husband's pyre was lit.
In Calcutta, inspector-general (headquarters), Jogesh Chatterjee, said the family members of four persons said that after cremation, the bones were buried in the field. "There is no confirmation as yet about the fifth body," he added.
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