| - CPM-Trinamul turf fight kills six ahead of polls | ||
| ABHIJEET CHATTERJEE & SOUMI BHATTACHARYA | ||
Papuri (Nanoor), Feb 8 : A CPM attempt at a Nandigram-style recapture of a Trinamul Congress-dominated village was beaten back this morning with the violence killing six people in Nanoor, a Birbhum block with a blood-soaked past. Seven others were injured as some 300 hooded and armed CPM men tried to push back party cadres into Papuri, about 260km from Calcutta, where an equal number of Trinamul workers resisted them bomb for bomb, bullet for bullet. When the police, who arrived after the three-and-a-half-hour clash ended at 9am, recovered the bodies of five men and a 14-year-old boy from the paddy fields, the CPM claimed that five belonged to its supporters. Officers, however, would not comment on the victims’ political loyalties. Nanoor, the lone marginal block for the CPM in its Birbhum bastion, has witnessed bloody CPM-Trinamul as well as intra-Left clashes. In July 2000, Nanoor’s Suchpur witnessed the murder of 11 Trinamul men, allegedly by CPM workers, over a land dispute. The Papuri cadres had been driven out during Trinamul’s 10-year rule of the local Charkolgram gram panchayat. The CPM wrested the panchayat back in May 2008 but grew frustrated with its failure to ensure supporters’ return to Papuri, which remained a Trinamul hub. A CPM leader said the party had been “desperate’’ to get its cadres back in Papuri, especially since parliamentary polls were approaching. “We wanted to regain our foothold…. It was decided the cadres would be brought back in a phased manner,’’ he said. “Clashes are likely to rise with the polls approaching,” another CPM leader said. CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar, however, said: “We had no knowledge about their return today, though negotiations were on.” Residents said the CPM mob, firing and hurling bombs, attacked the Muslim-dominated village from three sides around 5.30am, setting three houses on fire. But a Trinamul “action squad” prevented a rerun of Nandigram, which the CPM’s private army had “recaptured” in one fell swoop in November 2007. The CPM has identified its slain “supporters” as Lalbabu Sheikh, 26, Rashed Sheikh, 22, Rashed’s nephew Moktar, 14, Rejai Sheikh, 25, and Ambia Kazi, 35. Trinamul man Sheikh Siraj, 25, his hands blown off, died while being brought to a Calcutta hospital. Lalbabu and Rashed, chased by Trinamul activists, had run into the home of Hafeeza Bibi. “Seeing them, I fled. The pursuers began throwing bombs and soon the house caught fire. The duo ran out, their clothes in flames, shouting for help. They collapsed on the field outside,” Hafeeza said. District Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal said: “The CPM is trying to create trouble in Papuri. They attacked our supporters today, killing one and injuring seven. The CPM supporters were killed by their other rivals, not us.” Four of the injured have been admitted to NRS Hospital, Calcutta. “We have detained 15 people,” Birbhum police chief L.N. Meena said. The Rapid Action Force has been deployed at the village. | ||
 |
Blood soaks Nanoor again
Posted by
Sinlung
