3 years after East Midnapore killing, 30 Trinamool workers get CBI notices
Times of India | 9 April 2024
KOLKATA/CONTAI: Thirty Trinamool workers have got notices from the CBI in connection with the assembly poll violence that happened in East Midnapore three years ago. Everyone who has got the CBI notice is from East Midnapore district, where assembly opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari's brother, Dibyendu Adhikari, and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly are among BJP's candidates.
Trinamool Congress has repeatedly alleged that central agencies like the CBI, ED, NIA and I-T are targeting its leaders, workers and poll booth agents "selectively" to cripple it during the election. The NIA last weekend faced an angry mob of villagers when it went to arrest two of the accused in a blast that happened in East Midnapore's Bhupatinagar two years ago.
The CBI notices asking the 30 people to join the probe came last week, before the NIA's Bhupatinagar raid. All 30 replied they would not be able to comply now because they were busy with poll-related work. The CBI notices were sent under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code. No CBI official was willing to comment on the issue on Monday.
The case dates back to March 30, 2021 and relates to an attack on CPM worker Janmejay Dolui alias Chandu of Egra's Uttar Padma village. The FIR lodged with Marishda cops said Dolui was attacked with bamboo poles, iron rods and sharp weapons. His body was found in nearby Bhajachowly.
'Was not in original chargesheet, being targeted before polls'
The complaint filed with Marishda cops following the attack on CPM worker Janmejay Dolui on March 30, 2021 that allegedly led to his death, named 11 persons, including local Trinamool workers like Bikash Bej. Another complaint was lodged by Dolui's son in November 2021. The CBI in its December 2021 FIR named all the 11 persons.
Bej, a member of the Contai-II Panchayat Samiti, accused the central agency of targeting him before the polls.
"I was not named in the original charge sheet. And six persons mentioned there have not got any notice. The case is three years old and the CBI has suddenly become hyperactive before the Lok Sabha poll. BJP is trying to intimidate Trinamool workers before the polls. We have replied we will be busy now and will join the probe after the poll," Bej, also a district leader of the Trinamool's trade union wing, INTTUC, said.