M A I N   N E W S

Nandigram Killings
Main accused sent to police custody
Subhrangshu Gupta
Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 18
The alleged Nandigram killer, Selim Naskar, who was arrested from a hideout at Canning in south 24-parganas on Friday night, was produced at the special court of the sub-divisional magistrate at Haldia today. The magistrate refused him bail and remanded him in police custody for further interrogation.

Selim, a notorious killer, was allegedly hired by the CPM in its operation against the Bhumi Raksha Committee (BRC) at Nandigram.

According to police records, Selim had so far killed over 50 persons and he had been arrested four times in connection with several criminal activities in the state. Thrice, he had been released on bail. But on one occasion, he was refused bail when he escaped from the jail lock-up in June 12, 2004, at Haldia. He could not be rearrested. Since then Selim had been on the wanted list of the police.

However, on Friday, on a tip-off, the CID raided a hideout at Canning and arrested him and five others. Several firearms and a few bottles of imported whisky were recovered. Three of Selim’s associates, however, manage to escape.

Official sources admitted Selim and his two other associates had been arrested several times on dacoity charges but after investigation it was detected that Selim and his gang had taken an active part in the killings in Nandigram on March 14.

BJP may rock Parliament

New Delhi, November 18
The Nandigram issue is expected to generate heat in Parliament when its brief winter session resumes tomorrow with the BJP today hinting at going ballistic on the Centre’s “silence” on events in the area and the Congress stepping up pressure on ruling West Bengal’s ruling CPM.

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who has already moved a motion in the Rajya Sabha for a debate on Nandigram on Monday, launched a sharp attack on the Congress for remaining “silent” on the Nandigram violence allegedly by CPM cadres and said his party wanted a debate on the issue in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

“It is highly surprising that the Congress is silent on Nandigram. Just because the CPM is backing the UPA government at the Centre, it is improper to forgive its cadre as Nandigram was made a war zone,” Joshi told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.

He said no senior Congress leader, neither party chief Sonia Gandhi nor Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visited Nandigram. — PTI