Trinamool leads raids on CPM office,cops seize arms

Reacting to the incident,CPIM East Midnapore district committee secretary Kanu Sahoo said Trinamool Congress supporters organised attacks to capture the CITU party office at Itaberia. Following this,CITU members took shelter at a nearby party office,which too was raided by the Trinamool workers,he said. When the CPIM men fled,the Trinamool workers called in the police and handed over the firearms,claimed Sahoo. However,Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Trinamool MP Sisir Adikhari said CPIM cadres had stockpiled firearms in party offices across the district. He claimed Tuesdays disclosure was a glaring example of how the CPIM has been functioning in the district spreading terror all over the place.

In a related development,Adikhari,the MP from Contai,said the police in Khejuri would be socially dissociated and not boycotted and locals will stop cooperate with them. Earlier,the Trinamool Congress had called for a complete boycott and even asked shopkeepers not to sell products to the the police personnel. Adhikari said the police would not get any cooperation from locals untill the arrested 13 Trinamool Congress workers were released on bail.

Instead of arresting the CPIM leaders in connection with the recovery of firearms from party offices,the local police helped them escape from the area, Adhikari claimed,adding that people would not get any help from the local during raids.

SP Pallab Kanti Ghosh,however,said the police personnel in Khejuri continued to face a public boycott.