Former CPM minister Sushanta Ghosh arrested

Former CPM minister and sitting MLA from Garbeta in West Midnapore district,Sushanta Ghosh,was arrested on Thursday afternoon in connection with the recovery of human skeletons close to his house after the West Bengal Assembly elections.

Former CPM minister and sitting MLA from Garbeta in West Midnapore district,Sushanta Ghosh,was arrested on Thursday afternoon in connection with the recovery of human skeletons close to his house after the West Bengal Assembly elections.

Ghosh is the first former Left minister to be arrested after Mamata Banerjee came to power.

The police took Ghosh in custody immediately after the Chief Judicial Magistrates court turned down his plea seeking extension of his interim bail period. Rejecting the petition,Manoj Kumar Rai,Judge of the CJM court in Midnapore,allowed the CID to take Ghosh in custody for seven days.

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Ghosh was present in the court when his counsel moved his bail petition on Thursday. Ghosh said he was being falsely implicated in the skeleton case. At least five human skeletons were found in Garbeta on June 4.

The CPM leadership met after the arrest and was weighing out legal options. CPM spokesman Md Selim said Ghosh will get all legal help on behalf of the party.

On August 9,the CID had filed an application in the CJM court to take Ghosh into custody for 14 days after DNA test results identified two skeletons to be those of TMC supporters,Ajay Acharya and Swapan Singha alias Raju Singha,who were allegedly killed and buried by CPM members on September 22,2002.

On July 18,Ghosh had got anticipatory bail from the Calcutta High Court. He later surrendered before the CJM court according to the High Court orders and was on interim bail till Thursday.