Another CPM strongman in dock

Police said they are investigating the matter and discounted any political pressure from the ruling Trinamool behind naming Sarkar in the FIR. “The villagers informed us that they have seen some people at night who were trying to dug land at the CPM party office premises. We reached the spot and after digging the area,we recovered 70 improvised arms. We have received a complaint from the villagers against people. We are investigating into the matter,” said a senior police officer of the district.

The complaint against Sarkar and 11 others,including Vijay Pal,a CPM district secretariat member,was lodged by Anjan Bera,a resident of Manidaha village of Enayatpur.

“From our party we did not send police there,” said local Trinamool leader Nirmal Ghosh,and added,“these are common people of the area who informed the police about the dump.”

Till date,Sarkar had no police record. He remained the secretary of the CPM’s West Midnapore district committee for decades. One of the documents collected during the Netai killing probe by the CBI,and accessed by The Indian Express,indicated that Sarkar,a former professor of political science in Midnapore College,had proposed at a state committee meeting that armed CPM camps be set up to resist Maoists in villages in West Midnapore and Bankura.

Arms and ammunition tumbled out in the state’s rural backyards,particularly near CPM offices. In 13 days after the new government came to power,police found over 1,063 firearms — from highly sophisticated AK-56,INSAS and .303 rifles to double-barrel guns and regular country-made ones — from West Midnapore district alone.

GJM to take govt to court over GTA official appointment

THE GJM on Friday said it will file a case in Calcutta High Court against the appointment of Darjeeling DM Saumitra Mohan as the principal secretary of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) by the state government.

“We have decided to file a case against the state government for violating GTA Act and the tripartite agreement. In the agreement,it is written that the principal secretary will be appointed by the Chief Executive of GTA in consultation with the government. But the government never consulted the Chief Executive before appointing Mohan as GTA principal secretary,” said Roshan Giri,senior GJM leader.

Mohan is also secretary to the Chief Executive of GTA.

Giri said in future the GJM has planned to file more cases against the government.