Hang the Killers of Tapasi Malik, Singur Demands
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Who killed Tapasi Malik? Singur demands to hang the killers of Tapasi Malik. Peasant folks of Singur demonstrated on Monday with torches demanding capital Punishment for the killers!Gopal Nagar, Bajamelia, Khaserbhedi and all Singur villages are tense! Rebel peasants also tried to enter the aquired land!
Left Front Government, Tata motors and CPIM denied responsibility and tried their best to make it a suicide case. It seems CBI has got the breakthrough to solve the mystery and once again the Marxist Capitalist Gestapo of Brand Buddha exposed! Tapasi murder suspect produced in Delhi court.The CPI-M has, however, been quick to identify Debu as a supporter and not a party member. Debu was produced in a New Delhi court Sunday for allegedly killing 18-year-old Tapasi, a member of the anti-land acquisition group, and then burning her body inside the fenced off area, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district. Her family had lost its land to the project.
Singur reacted very sharply. Tapasi led the Singur Resistance and she was punished. Who will punish her murderers? Who is going to be hanged for nandigram massacre?
The CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal has completed 30 years in power - longest ever by an 'elected' Marxist regime.
Left front tried its best to isolate Mamta bannerjee and succeeded. But the Resistance continues despite betrayal from different quarters including political parties, media and intellegentsia! In fact, underprevileged never got the support of caste Hindu Bhadralok so called Bengali mainstream. Medinipur has the history of Independent Tmralipt against British Raj. Thus, they hold on in Nandigram! The peasnats of Bengal always fought against Imperialism. The dalit, Muslim and tribal united front never cared for elite support. Tapasi Malik portrays well the anti land Rural India Mutiny. Why the intellegentsia should stand for the underprevileged as long as they get the heavy POSTO and Pasata treat! For example,Telecom companies are increasingly looking at associating themselves with theatre and performing arts in West Bengal in an attempt to emotionally connect with its subscribers here.
For instance, by October this year Tata Teleservices is planning to associate itself with performing arts and sponsor events.
We must not forget Tapasi Malik. nandigram is highlighted these days. But Tapasi Malik would not let you forget singur. her spirit is haunting Buddhadev Bhattacharya and ratan Tata.
Debu was picked up recently by the CBI from Singur in Tapasi's death case last week and sent for narco analysis and polygraph (lie-detector) tests during which he reportedly confessed to the crime.
Debu had all along been claiming that on the night of her death he had seen Tapasi going towards the Tata Motors field with a kerosene jar. He even went out of his way to give an interview to a TV channel claiming he was a relative of Tapasi's and tried to pass of the killing as a result of her love feud with a villager.The CBI investigation proved that the story was fabricated by him, leading to the arrest, Trinamool leaders said.
On Dec 18 last year, Tapasi's burnt body was found on the land fenced off for the Tata Motors small car project. She was allegedly raped before her killing. Debu who in charge of the guards protecting the boundary wall in Singur at night.
Tapasi, from Bajemelia in Singur, was an active member of the Save Farmland Committee that was protesting land acquisition in the area for the motor project.
"He is a supporter of our party but not a member. He was our voter but not an active member," said CPI-M leader Binoy Konar after the news reached Kolkata.
Debu will be produced in Chandannagor court in Hooghly in a few days. The CBI has got a transit remand of Debu.
Over 997 acres of land in Singur have been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project. The issue has triggered a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.
Left front tried its best to make Pranab Mukherjee the next President and failed. Pranab pays back and supports unconditionally the Land aquisition Eviction Rural India drive!External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a Bailey bridge at Ballapur on National Highway 34 in Farakka today. The construction of the new bridge will ensure that traffic on the highway, which acts as a lifeline for the entire state, runs smoothly. He urged those possessing land adjacent to the highway to hand it over to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), so that the road can be broadened and developmental activities carried out. The minister said that the NHAI will give appropriate compensation to land owners if they co-operate.
Pranab supports Buddha`s Capitalist Development!
Now even as a contest is on for the post of India's President, Left parties are making guarded moves to see if Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee can become the Vice-President to succeed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Although the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has not made any formal claim, preliminary discussions have taken place with some parties within the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and among the Left parties.The first indication of the Left thinking came in the form of a report in the CPI-M's Malayalam newspaper 'Deshabhimani' that said the Left parties should get the Vice-President's post as they are the largest ally of the Congress-led UPA.Sources in Somnath Chatterjee's office indicated that he was not averse to the idea. They added that CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat had already indicated his party's keenness in making the claim to UPA allies such as the DMK.
Communist Party of India leader D. Raja was more forthcoming.
'There has been a preliminary discussion (among UPA allies) and there was a view that since the Congress had the presidential candidate, the Vice-President should be a non-Congress person.
'We can take the initiative in choosing a candidate based on consensus,' Raja told the news agency.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he begs and receives charity from the ant who he had teased before. In the real world today, the Ant seems to have inspired major players in the real estate industry such as DLF, Unitech, and Parsvanath Developers. Big real estate players have, in fact, amassed huge land reserves. Emaar-MGF has reserves to the tune of 10,000 acre, DLF has 10,255 acres while Unitech's holdings stand at 10,700 acres, according to estimates. Other real estate players such as Vipul and Uppal Housing also have land banks amounting to 1,500 acre and 1,000 acre respectively. Moreover, it is not just real estate players who are buying big time. Even the realty wings of big corporate houses such as Tata Housing Development Company (THDC) and Godrej Properties are gearing up to accumulate land for the future.
"We will intensify our agitation against the Tata project with renewed vigour from Tuesday. Our movement will continue. We stand vindicated and this again proves that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state had tried to shield the killers at the behest of the government," Becharam Manna, a Trinamool leader and convenor of the Singur Krishijami Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee), told IANS.
"Now we demand the arrest of more people who were his accomplice and roaming scot-free after the CID did nothing to arrest them."
Why is the West Bengal government worried over the adverse publicity the state continues to receive over the land acquisition controversy arising out of the proposed small cars plant of Tata Motors at Singur and a chemical complex at Nandigram? There could be two reasons. One, the media?s expectations from the West Bengal government on governance and how it should handle popular protests over large industrial projects are high. Two, investment commitments of over Rs 50,000 crore are at stake and the state government cannot afford such adverse publicity.
Trinamool Congress senior leader Saugato Roy told IANS: "We congratulate the CBI for their job. We had been claiming all along that Tapasi Malik was killed by CPI-M men. Now it has been proved with the narco-analysis and polygraph tests of Debu Malik that he was behind the act."
"The CBI is a professional body and we can only hope that the case will reach its logical conclusion and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre would not try to influence the CBI under the pressure of CPI-M," said Roy.
CBI sources in Kolkata said the case was being handled by officials who are all in New Delhi now.
"We cannot comment when Debu Malik will be produced in court in West Bengal since our officials investigating the case are all in Delhi," a CBI spokesman in Kolkata said.
Statesman News Service reports:
The CBI today arrested Debu Malik, who was detained in connection with the murder of Tapasi Malik in Singur about six months back. Debu was produced in a Delhi court today and would be produced in a Chandannagar court. The CBI had taken Debu to Delhi for a polygraph test, commonly known as the lie detector test, on Thursday. Debu Malik, reportedly a close associate of a CPI-M Hooghly district committee member, was arrested following the polygraph test.
Earlier, the special crime branch of CBI detained Debu after they found irregularities in his statement regarding the circumstances that led to Tapasi’s murder. The CBI had questioned at least 20 people over the murder including Debu and the CPI-M Hooghly district committee member.
Debu had claimed during questioning that Tapasi was not murdered, but had committed suicide as her family had objected to her relationship with a local youth. After Tapasi’s family declined to marry her off to the youth of her choice, the girl committed suicide, Debu had claimed before CBI sleuths.
Mainstream, Vol XLV, No 27
Ramsey Clark’s Statement to the Convention
All India Citizens’ Convention Against Atrocities in Nandigram and Special Economic Zones
Monday 25 June 2007
The following is the statement to the Convention from Ramsey Clark, the former US Attorney-General, whose outspoken indictment of the lawless US bombing of Iraq during Gulf War I in 1991, embodied in his report to the than UN Secretary-General, has now become a legend.
I wish I was able to join with all of you on June 19th in New Delhi, India, at your important meeting to address the needs and grievances of the farmers and rural poor whose lives have been made miserable by the greed of the transnational corporations and the local rich.
Free trade areas in Central America, Maquiladoras on the Mexico-US border, Special Economic Zones in West Bengal—these arrange-ments all over the world allow freedom for the transfer of money and finances but end the freedom of the people who have lived on and worked the land for generations.
It is such a harmless phrase—Special Economic Zone—it sounds like an area of rapid development of technology and learning that will allow the creation of wealth from nothing and enrich the life of a region. What a difference between words and reality! It pushes small farmers—who were at least able to feed their families—off the land, introduces industries that pollute the environment while giving only a small minority of the displaced people alienating, low-wage jobs. A tiny minority of transnational corporations, rich people and corrupt officials have an opportunity to make fortunes from speculation in real estate, while most of the displaced people are simply made landless and desperate.
It is a tribute to the courage of the poor people of Nandigram that they have joined together to fight against this imposition of a Special Economic Zone on their region. It is a crime that the government and private corporations have unleashed upon these people the power of the police and of private hoodlums who have beaten and even killed dozens of them.
Some eight years ago a well-known New York Times columnist wrote an article in which he wrote the phrase: “You can’t have McDonald’s [fast-food shops] without McDonnell-Douglas [the bomber-plane manufacturer].” He wanted to illustrate that the so-called free market and things like Special Economic Zones depended on the military might of the Pentagon. What this means in practice is that all the special exploitation and oppression of the billions of urban and rural poor of the world depend in the long run on the military power of the United States and the willingness of Washington to wage aggressive war.
It is important for all people who stand for justice to stand on the side of the poor people of Nandigram in their heroic struggle against the Special Economic Zones. And we salute the organisers of the SUCI who are helping to mobilise the independent action of the rural poor to carry on this progressive struggle
Tata's exit from social responsibility
15th March 2007
Our website has reported consistently on the activities of India's most renowned company, Tata, since the horrendous Kalingangar massacre in January 2006 which raised burning questions about the company's complicity in a police action which resulted in the deaths of 13 people.
Since then Tata has not only been behind the seizure of farmland at Singur, West Bengal, as the site for its planned small-car plant , being set up with the Italian firm of Fiat. It has also secretively been acquiring for a steel plant in the Bastur region of Chhattisgarh state [see our update: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press1388.htm ] .
Meanwhile it has taken over the major UK-Dutch steel firm, Corus (see London Calling this week).
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press1406.htm
Prof. Sanjib Bhattacharya blogs on sulekha, Prof. Sanjib ...Why Tapasi's family not get justice who was murdered brutally in Singur ? Jan 1 2007 2:17AM, viewed: 188 times. Seeking Justice for Tapasi Malik ...
prof-sanjib-bhattacharya.sulekha.com/blog/Current%20Affairs/posts.htm - 36k - Cached - Similar pages
The Indian Economy Blog » NandigramLet soul of Tapasi Malik raped & murdered by CPM goonbs at Singur & somany .... And about Tapasi Malik the matter is under CBI probe and don’t jump to ...
indianeconomy.org/2007/03/19/nandigram/ - 89k - Cached - Similar pages
Strike jolts Hindustan Motors' auto component project
The workers' strike at Hindustan Motors' Uttarpara plant in West Bengal earlier this year has given a severe jolt to its auto component project, a top official of the car manufacturer said here Monday.
The workers' strike at Hindustan Motors' Uttarpara plant in West Bengal earlier this year has given a severe jolt to its auto component project, a top official of the car manufacturer said here Monday.
'The seven-week strike at our plant has been a major setback for our auto component project as we lost our credibility. The project was worth at Rs.1 billion and was a part of our revival programme,' said R. Santhanam, managing director of Hindustan Motors.
Last year the West Bengal government had okayed Hindustan Motors' revival and renewal proposal that would bring its automotive industrial complex at Uttarpara back to profitability and financial health.The proposal envisaged diversification and expansion into the auto component sector by developing automotive forgings, automotive castings and automotive stampings business with cost-effective leveraging of the existing facilities and infrastructure.But the strike in March-April by the majority workers' union to protest against the suspension of 15 employees and alleged non-payment of salary for two months, took a heavy toll on its production as well as renewal programme.
'We were producing 1,000 units of Ambassador before March and during the strike the production came down to zero. But now about 92 percent of the workforce has signed the settlement and things are coming back into normalcy,' said Santhanam.
He the domestic sales of Ambassador cars were expected to pick up gradually.
'Ambassador is doing well now and we will be back to 2,000 units per months very soon. There is good demand in the market. I am not expecting a huge growth but I am hopeful that the brand will make a steady growth,' said Santhanam.
Campaign literature at SanhatiThis was also the day Tapasi Malik was murdered in Singur. After the convention, hundreds of students organized into a spontaneous march down College Street ...
sanhati.com/literature/ - 31k - 24 Jun 2007 - Cached - Similar pages
Singur « WordPress.comstalingam wrote 6 months ago : Update: I found the picture of Tapasi Malik in better times.I would like to credit http://taratv.com/ a popularbengali TV ...
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Booklets at Sanhati... a call for solidarity against the brutal murder of Tapasi Malik, ... plants and their implications ( by Somnath), and an open letter to Tapasi Malik. ...
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Singur StruggleEffigy of CM being Burnt in Protest Against Rape and Murder of Tapasi Malik. The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which the West Bengal government has invoked ...
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today: December 2006Naxalite bloggers say: "Tapasi Malik is Immortal" “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ...
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NDTV Blogs - Log in. Blog out.Debu Malik, a Singur villager, has been picked up by the CBI in the Tapasi Malik death case and sent for a lie-detector test.Asked why he was suspected, ...
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Singur Appeal PetitionTapasi Malik the girl and her parents were very active in the movement. Her father is an agricultural worker in Singur. The citizens from all across ...
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The Singur smokescreen: Part-IIIThis site may harm your computer.
Another Telegraph strategy to dilute the issue of farmers was the way certain concurrent incidents were projected - such as the murders of Tapasi Malik, ...
www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web1309139105Hoot95254%20PM2479&pn=1 - Similar pages
The Telegraph - Calcutta : MetroAnother was the probe into the death of Tapasi Malik, 18, in Singur during the height of the anti-land acquisition movement. Insiders said the sleuths have ...
www.telegraphindia.com/1070517/asp/calcutta/story_7747195.asp - 29k - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF] NANDIGRAM :File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
The murder of Tapasi Malik has further. angered the school students who have. been fighting against forcible acquisition. of land since July. ...
naxalrevolution.googlepages.com/may_20072.pdf - Similar pages
Bandh, Again-Kolkata-Cities-The Times of IndiaMamata saw a political motive in the murder of Tapasi Malik. The girl from Bajemelia Paschimpara was an active member of Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, ...
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/Cities/Bandh_Again/articleshow/843886.cms - 44k -
Singur Tapasi Malik(16 years) - Raped and burnt alive in Singur
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Update: I found the picture of Tapasi Malik in better times.
I would like to credit http://taratv.com/ a popular
bengali TV channel for providing this picture on request.
Tapasi Malik 16 yrs - A strong willed girl and one of the youngest and most dedicated organisers in singur.
The CPM propoganda machinery has launched a massive disinformation
campaign claiming that Tapasi had committed suicide,
to cover up the crimes of it's lumpen cadre and Calcutta Gestapo Police.
It is extremely likely that even as I type this all the evidence is being
systematically destroyed to protect the perpetrators of this
henious crime despite Buddhadeb claiming that he will hand
the case over to the CBI for an impartial enquiry.
Civilization has indeed died in the fields of Singur....
16 year old Tapasi raped and burnt alive because she stood up to the
CPM-Police-Corporate Mafia Raj in singur.
Pit where Tapasi Malik’s burning body was found inside the Singur cordoned area.(note- one can see the erected fences)
The Real Story and event's
At around 5:00AM on 18th of December 2006, Tapasi Malik the only young daughter of Monoronjan Malik, a sharecropper went out in the field to answer nature’s call. They generally go out at the wee hours in the morning but the spot is not very far from their homestead. The spot happened to be now falling near to the guarded area- the area that is now guarded with barbed wires by the state government. The state government guards a space of about 1000 acres to be given over to TATA MOTORS toward their mini car factory.
CPM goons and the police dragged Tapasi into the guarded area. She was then repeatedly gang raped and then to wipe out any proof of rape she was taken to a open pit and burnt off live.The abdominal area was specifically totally burnt off.
The villagers came to see the fire around 6:00 AM and rushed to the spot. The police appeared and did not allow the villagers to approach. They baton-charged them away, while they were frantically trying to remove the burnt portions of her body from the pit. The police then immediately declared that it was a case of a suicide.
They then caught hold of her father and forced him to write that she had some family problems that led her to commit suicide. Immediately the villagers pounced upon the police, they tore off all the papers and then forced the police to rewrite them. Meanwhile the leaders of opposition parties and the leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly came in and made the police rewrite the FIR.
http://naxalrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/12/singur-tapasi-malik16-years-raped-and.html
Who Killed Tapasi Malik At Singur?
B Prasant
NEW and definitive light has been shed on the murder of a young woman named Tapasi Malik. Tapasi was done away brutally nearly five months ago one early morning on December 8 and her remains stuffed in a hole within the limits of the automobile factory that is coming up at Singur. Her body was set on fire and was partially burnt. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the case now believes that the young woman’s father and brother might have had something to do with her murder.
Tapasi’s death had been utilised shamelessly and to the hilt by the Naxalites, the SUCI initially, then followed up by the Trinamul Congress, the Pradesh Congress, and the BJP, to try to embarrass the CPI(M) and the Bengal Left Front government.
It was alleged first that the young woman, a ‘front-ranking anti-Communist and a vocal supporter of the save agriculture committee,’ was gang-raped and then killed by CPI(M) workers. The story was later changed to her getting ‘molested and killed’ by night-guards who had found her within the perimeter of the factory walls.
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0506/05062007_bengal.htm
West Bengal to consider quota for Muslims
Hyderabad, June 25: On the lines of Andhra Pradesh, the CPI (M) Government in West Bengal would consider reservations to Muslims after getting a report from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) on the socio-economic-educational backwardness of the community.
West Bengal Minister for Minorities Welfare and Madarsa Education Abdus Sattar told a news conference here on Sunday that the report from the Kolkata-based institute was expected in three or four months.
He said a political decision to extend four per cent reservations to Muslims was already taken by the Central Committee of CPI (M). In line with the decision, the party would approach the Centre to make reservations to Muslims a national policy within the Constitutional framework, Mr. Sattar added.
The West Bengal Minister said his Government had decided to implement a sub-plan for minorities by allocating a 15 per cent additional budget wherever required. The Government had also decided to digitalise records of wakf properties and had entrusted the work to Price Water Cooper House by sanctioning Rs. 80 lakh.
Discussing the minorities welfare programmes in West Bengal, Mr. Sattar said a second Haj House was proposed to be constructed near Kolkata airport. The State Government had accorded the status of secondary board to the Board of Madarsa Education. An administrative building was being constructed at a cost of Rs. five crore for the board at Salt Lake.
Mr. Sattar added that district-wise surveys on human resource development were being conducted, particularly to study socio-economic backwardness of minorities. Reports of Purulia and Malda districts were already received. The Government had decided to convert four madarsas into universities. One of them was 227-year old Calcutta Madarsa which was started by first Governor General of British India, Warren Hastings.
http://www.siasat.com/english/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=189760&Itemid=79&cattitle=Hyderabad
Environmental group criticises SEZ policy
NEW DELHI: The Environment Support Group has criticised the Government’s special economic zone (SEZ) policy, particularly for failing to address the environmental issues related with it.
Following nationwide agitations, the Government’s approach to SEZs has been thrown completely in flux, according to Green Tapism - A report of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006, a book brought out by the Gro up. A growing number of voices across the country continue to echo the need to “walk away” from the SEZ mindset.
The absurdity of a situation where the coercive state apparatus takes land away from the people at the behest of the profit-maximising companies can no longer be ignored, it says. The need for a careful scrutiny of the environmental and social impacts of SEZs has never been on sounder footing. “India’s SEZ policy is set to undergo a comprehensive re-think in the coming days and, hopefully, the full environmental and social impacts of such zones will be recognised and appropriately regulated.”
Describing the new EIA notification as convoluted and unclear, the book says it presents such zones with a large number of loopholes to escape the environment clearance process. Unclear terminology provided in the “specific conditions” of the notification could seriously limit the possibility of effectively regulating the zones in the light of their potential social and environmental impact.
The notification’s treatment of SEZs ignores the Special Economic Zones Act 2005, the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006 and the SEZ Policy. There are sharp inconsistencies with regard to the clearance process and decision-making authorities under the EIA norms and the single window clearance process under the SEZ legislation.
In the past, the Commerce Ministry paid scant attention to the environmental or social impacts of SEZs. The evolving criteria have, so far, reflected a scant regard for environmental, health and social concerns.
NEW DELHI: The pause on SEZs seems to be over with the commerce ministry planning to remove the self-imposed freeze on considering SEZ proposals submitted after April 5.
While a part of the reason has to do with PM Manmohan Singh's request to Singapore government to invest in Indian duty-free enclaves, officials said, the end of the SEZ rush was also responsible for reviewing the freeze.
Once the application processing window is completely opened, it would result in the commerce ministry having its way to review the policy that included a three-month period when no proposal was cleared.
Officials said in recent months, the SEZ rush had dried up with only around 25 applications having been received since April 6. While government has so far granted final approvals to 339 proposals, another 120-odd zones have received first-stage clearance, where land needs to be acquired, leaving only around 40 proposals pending.
There is another set of 225 applications which are expected to be rejected since the state governments have not supported the proposals. There are nearly 20 applications to set up SEZs around Haldia and a similar number of proposals from Raigad in Maharashtra where the state governments are not granting approvals since there is little land that can be allotted to the developers, sources said.
"We are writing to the states saying that in the absence of support from them the Centre will have no option but to turn down the proposals," an official added. The sources added that the commerce ministry had decided not to consider applications submitted after April 5 due to the rush of proposals and had informally decided to keep on check on their proliferation.
Besides, they pointed out that following the PM's call for investment, Singapore-government controlled Ascendas approached commerce ministry earlier this month to set up two SEZs in Tamil Nadu. While one of them will be a multi-product zone, the other will deal in electronics hardware and will see an investment of at least $1 billion.
Ascendas did not respond to an e-mail but sources said the company has signed an MoU with Tidco but details of land acquisition were not available. The company was earlier looking at Maharashtra but opted for Tamil Nadu. Government has little choice but to lift the freeze after PM's invitation. "You can't have a situation where you only consider Ascendas' applications and ignore the rest. If the freeze has to be lifted it has to be for everyone," an official said.
The CBI today formally arrested Singur villager Debu Malik in the Tapasi Malik death case after he failed to clear the lie-detector test in Delhi. Eighteen-year-old Tapasi’s charred body was found on the land fenced off for the Tata Motors car project on December 18 last year. She was a member of the Save Farmland Committee.CBI sources said Debu, a CPM activist who was in charge of the guards manning the boundary wall of the factory site, was seen on TV channels saying that Tapasi committed suicide.
“He failed to clear the polygraph test today and came up with contradictory statements,” said a CBI official.
CPM leader Benoy Konar said Debu was not a member of the party but failed to explain why he was in charge of the night patrol manned by local CPM workers. Debu will be brought back to Calcutta on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the state Congress and Left Front partners have hinted that they want to revive the peace initiative in Nandigram. The government had put the all-party talks on the backburner after Mamata Banerjee refused to accept the government’s Singur package. The state Congress today sent a letter to Forward Bloc veteran Ashok Ghosh asking him about the fate of the all-party meeting that he had convened on May 24 but later ‘adjourned’ after Mamata stormed out. The peace meet had ended in a stalemate as the CPM refused to describe the March 14 firing in Nandigram as ‘genocide’.
On the other hand, the CPI (Maoist) has said the two blasts targeting police in West Midnapore this month were meant to drive home a message on Nandigram. On March 14, at least 14 people had died in Nandigram during police firing on agitators opposing the government’s acquisition of land.
Somen, the state chief of the Naxalite group, has said the explosions — both missed the targeted policemen — were planned to teach the government a lesson.
“We successfully planted the explosives on a road and members of our armed squad opened fire at the policemen. But they had a narrow escape,” Somen said about the June 7 blast. A day later, another landmine exploded in a nearby jungle. But the policemen escaped a second time.
The Naxalite outfit had warned the state government within two days of the March 14 police firing that they would be “made to pay”.
According to the state Intelligence Bureau (I
, the explosives were planted in Lalgarh two months before the blast when a road was being laid through Lalgarh forest. “There was little police vigil as a huge police force from West Midnapore was deployed in Nandigram,” an IB official said.
“The activists of the (Maoist) outfit appointed the labourers engaged in the construction to plant the explosives.”
But the “labourers failed to mark the trees to show the exact location of the explosives. When the