Author: Sukumar Mahato
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 15, 2007
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//Cities/Kolkata/Garlands_for_massacre_accused/articleshow/2541826.cms
CPM leaders Tapan Ghosh and Sukur Ali, prime accused in the Chhoto Angaria massacre, were welcomed with garlands and flowers by partymen as they walked into jail on Wednesday. The two were also described as assets by Dipak Sarkar, CPM's West Midnapore district secretary.
CPM leaders, as well as a huge contingent of cadres, were waiting for Ghosh and Ali in front of Midnapore Central Correctional Home from around 8 am with garlands, bouquets and flowers. Around 10.25 am, Dipak Sarkar joined them.
As soon as the duo arrived, Sarkar garlanded the two and presented them with flowers and even consoled them. Then, other party leaders and cadres followed suit.
"Both Tapan and Sukur are our assets. All the arrested CPM leaders are victims of a conspiracy hatched by Trinamul Congress and police. We are not worried about the two going to jail. About 4,500 (party workers) have been to jail in the last 30 years," claimed Sarkar.
Ghosh, CPM's West Midnapore district committee member, and Ali, Garbeta zonal committee secretary, were shifted from Contai sub-jail to Midnapore Central Correctional Home on Wednesday along with nine other inmates.
The duo, along with five district CPM leaders, were caught while smuggling out three injured Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) supporters on November 10.
On Tuesday, CBI counsel Tapas Basu prayed
that Ghosh and Ali be produced in court for the Chhoto Angaria trial. Justice
Abdus Kuddus of the second additional district and sessions judges' court
in Midnapore granted that and
ordered the two to be brought to court on November 21.
According to sources, Sarkar came to meet the arrested duo to find out who brought about their arrests after Saturday's operation in Nandigram.
As the journey to West Midnapore from Nandigram takes only about an hour, the district secretary wanted to know under whose instructions the car, carrying Ghosh and Ali, headed for Balishai bridge near Egra, where BUPC and Trinamul Congress were lying in wait for the two. No wonder, Trinamul MLA Sisir Adhikary was so confident of checking the car in which the duo was found.
When a reporter asked whether infighting was responsible for their arrests, Sarkar replied: "Only media, Trinamul and a section of the police are responsible for this. We think they are assets to our party."
When they were caught late on Saturday, Ghosh and Ali were travelling in hired cars, behind which was an ambulance carrying three injured men. There were rumours that the dead and the injured were being smuggled out of Nandigram, but Sarkar insisted the duo had nothing to do with the ambulance.
Sarkar denied they were in any way linked to the Nandigram violence. "They were returning from Digha, where they had gone to celebrate Kali Puja, when Trinamul and BUPC supporters spotted them and falsely implicated them," he said.
The two were produced in a Contai court on Sunday under false names but Contai Bar Association busted their lie. Lawyers produced photos of the duo, who were forced to reveal their real names.