Red greed
Arup Chanda
Mid-Day
June 22, 1999
Title: Red greed
Author: Arup Chanda
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: June 22, 1999
Greed within the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) in West
Bengal has reached such dangerous proportions that party leaders are
even hiring professional killers to silence their adversaries. CPI-M
has been in power for 23 years in the state, giving party Activists
numerous opportunities to commit financial irregularities.
Differences over sharing of spoils has led to the inter-party
killings.
On Sunday, Chinmoy Hazra, a CPI-M leader and a real estate developer
of Hooghly district, was shot dead in Calcutta while he was
supervising a construction site.
Investigations revealed that the attackers had attempted to extort
money from Hazra and belonged to his party.
Another major incident of infighting came to the fore when the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently arrested a CPI-M local
committee secretary and zonal committee member, Babul Deb, from Habra
in North 24 Parganas district, adjoining Calcutta. He has been
charged with murdering his party comrade, Kartick Mondal.
Mondal was stabbed to death whole returning home from work at night
near his home.
The police arrived on the scene after sometime but instead of rushing
Mondal to the hospital took him to the police station.
At midnight, Mondal's father, Rasik Mondal came to know of the attack
on his son and went to the Habra police station where Kartick's body
was lying.
Seated next to the officer-in-charge of the police station was Babul
Deb.
Since then Babul had been a constant companion of the police whenever
it investigated the murder.
Babul was allegedly involved in a lottery seam and had amassed huge
wealth despite being a clerk in a local school.
Kartick had threatened to expose him and had reported him to CPI-M
members.
When the police failed to arrest a single culprit, about 1,000 people
of the area moved the Calcutta High Court and sought a CBI inquiry.
In April, last year, the HC ordered the inquiry.
This was the first time that even supporters of the party displayed a
lack of confidence in an administration run by their own party.
Babul is reportedly enjoying the patronage of a powerful CPI-M
minister and has reportedly deputed a party MP to influence the CBI.
CBI sources say that Babul paid Rs 30,000 to two professional
assassins to murder Mondal.
The breakthrough in the case came when the CBI arrested a known
criminal, Sambhu Seal, who confessed to Babul hiring him and another
person, Bidyut Sardar, to kill Mondal.
Babul was so confident he would remain untouched that he himself went
to the CBI office when he was called for interrogation. He was
arrested on the spot.
A raid at Babul's home revealed that besides a fleet of vehicles, he
had the latest electronic gadgets and a large number of incriminating
documents indicating a huge bank balance and investments.
Factionalism leading to killings is nothing new in the CPI-M. Ever
since came to power in West Bengal in 1977 more than 100 party members
have died because of inn6r party feuds.
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