‘Garbeta killing was not probed properly in 2002’

Appearing for the state government,Sekhar Bose on Tuesday opposed the anticipatory bail plea of former CPM minister Sushanta Ghosh in the Garbeta killing case saying the 2002 police probe into the incident was not done in a proper manner.

Seven Trinamool Congress workers were killed allegedly by CPM men in Garbeta on September 22,2002. The case returned to haunt CPM this year after seven skeletons were recovered from near Sushanta Ghosh’s ancestral home and one of the victim’s son identified the skeleton that of his father on the basis of the clothes. The police later registered an FIR naming Sushanta Ghosh and 39 other CPM leaders and workers. The probe was later handed over to the CID.

Ghosh,who is also a legislator in the current Assembly,filed an anticipatory bail plea in the High Court. During today’s hearing,former Advocate General Bolai Roy,appearing for Ghosh,told the court the case against Ghosh and other CPM leaders are politically motivated. Roy said the trial court had acquitted the seven accused in the case in 2002 and questioned the identification of the skeletons as that of those who had gone missing. “How can a skeleton be identified on the basis of clothes after nine years,” he said.