Niyogi’s hometown celebrates `unexpected’ verdict

There was only one sour note. That the two industrialists of the influential Simplex group Moolchand Shah and Chandrakant Shah “got away” with just life imprisonment and not the maximum penalty.

A viewpoint shared by Niyogi’s widow Asha Guha Niyogi, who continues to live in the family’s two-room hutment with her three children, close to her husband’s “samadhi”. Mallah, according to her, was a mere pawn in the hands of the industrialists and the latter should have been similarly punished. Not surprisingly she kept away from the Vijay Juloos, preferring to stay at home with daughters Kranti and Mukti.

As it is, Asha is no longer central to the CMM’s plans. With the initial sympathy subsiding, Niyogi’s family has been pushed off the centre-stage. It now lives on a meagre Rs 1,800 monthly grant from the organisation and Niyogi’s daughters are planning to start work to supplement that.

However, the CMM which has grown into a veritable political outfit, though it continues to espouse the workers’ cause claims to still swear by Niyogi. “We almost forced justice to be done,” says a CMM member, referring to their presence in the court all through Niyogi’s six-year-long trial.

Morcha leaders are now demanding that the Shahs be punished more severely. According to CMM president Janaklal Thakur, “Five industrialists of Bhilai-Durg, where our union is operative, had all conspired to eliminate Niyogi. The CBI appears to have gone slow on the other accused, B.R. Jain and Kedia, named in the FIR. Only two have been nailed, and they too have got away without the death sentence.”

The CMM insists that a consortium of five corporations of the region namely the House of Kedia, Simplex, Beekay Engineering, B.R. Jain’s steel industry and Khetavat Steel had “sponsored” Niyogi’s murder. “