Singur death: Buddhadeb clears CBI probe

Responding to questions on Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee8217;s continuing agitation, Bhattacharjee once again reiterated his earlier stand. He said Mamata should shun her demonstration and come forward for talks. He added that the State Government would not force Mamata to withdraw her hunger strike.

8220;Not one farmer has been forced to give up his land,8221; said Bhattacharjee. Around 95 per cent of the farmers have voluntarily given up their land, he added, promising that farmers who preferred land for land would be provided plots at alternative sites.

8220;The Tatas have been handed over the land. Their representatives are continuing the mapping work. All State Government projects will be implemented where they have been planned,8221; he said.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary P R Ray said that according to the information available with the State Government, Tapasi Malik8217;s post-mortem report states that the burn injuries were 8220;ante-mortem in nature8221;, thereby suggesting that she was probably set on fire before her death. Ray confirmed that he would be writing to the Union Cabinet Secretary concerned asking for a CBI inquiry into the girl8217;s death.

8220;There is no evidence that suggests that the girl was raped,8221; Ray said. 8220;So it is too early to say whether the girl committed suicide or was murdered,8221; he added. Inquiries at the Calcutta Medical College Hospital, where the post-mortem was carried out, revealed that the charred body could not be examined for rape. But there were indications of resistance on the body parts that could be examined.

Mamata sticks to strike call

Kolkata: Although the state government was prompt in responding to her demand for a CBI probe into the Singur death, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee stuck to her call for a 48-hour bandh which begins on Thursday.

Both the CBI and the State Police Criminal Investigation Department will investigate the murder separately.

Mamata on Tuesday insisted that the government must return 347 acres of land at Singur, which, she claimed, was taken 8220;forcibly8221; from farmers who did not want to sell out for the Tata Motors8217; small-car project. But the government maintains that the farmers gave up their land willingly.

Addressing an open-air press conference, Mamata said her first condition for ending the protest was the withdrawal of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC from Singur. This has to be followed by the return of normalcy to Singur, she added. The Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc made the same demand on Section 144 CrPC.

Hundreds of Mamata8217;s women supporters on Tuesday blocked the Lenin Sarani-end of Chowringhee Road for two hours in the afternoon, to protest Monday8217;s murder.

In Singur, 40 km from Kolkata, social activist Medha Patkar visited Bajemelia village and met the family of Tapasi Malik, the victim, early Tuesday morning.