Tapasi case: CPM men held guilty

While Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee welcomed the verdict, demanding that 8220;the Chief Minister immediately resign taking responsibility of such acts by his party leader8221;, the CPIM state leadership said it would appeal in a higher court. Ruling out expulsion of Dutta from the party, they called him an old comrade.

The charred body of Tapasi, a member of the Save Farmland Committee, had been found inside the Singur Nano project site on December 18, 2006. As Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna over the issue and it snowballed, the state Government had handed over the probe to the CBI. Investigators concluded that Tapasi had been raped and murdered, before being set on fire.

The CPIM8217;s Hooghly district secretariat member, Balai Sanpui, who came to the court along with thousands of followers and other senior party leaders, said the legal battle was not over yet. The party senior leadership had said the same.