Naxalite surrenders after being charged with murder

RAJNAGAR, April 4: A 67-year-old Naxalite leader, Mr Horibol Mal, surrendered today in Rajnagar police station. Mr Mal is under suspicion of involvement in the murder of a CPM leader. Police have been searching for the Naxalite leader for the past six months.

Today, nearly 100 CPI-ML supporters - led by the district secretary Mr Sailen Mishra - agitated in front of Rajnagar police station, alleging that police have labeled their old party leader as a Maoist, following a directive from the CPM leadership. “Today, our old leader, who is a cardiac and diabetic patient, was forced to surrender as police started torturing residents of Kushbani village from where he hails. Police have ridiculously labeled him a Maoist and claimed he was involved in the murder of a CPM leader, Nandalal Mistri, on 22 September, 2008. Today, we agitated in front of the police station against this unruly and ridiculous step by police. They are operating under the direction of CPM leaders,” Mr Sailen Mishra, district secretary of the CPI-ML, said.

Three months ago, police arrested Sainik Mal, son of Horibol, from his residence, on suspicion of his being a Maoist. According to police, the Naxalite cadre was wanted in the Nandalal Mistri case. Nandalal, a CPM leader, was shot dead - allegedly by Maoists - in Rajnagar, six months ago. Surprisingly, Horibol Mal's name was not included in the FIR registered in the case. SNS

  

At 6pm, Ghosh said: “The culling teams have got the cash.”

The operation would continue tomorrow.

Villagers in the Narhatta gram panchayat area, about 12km from Malda town, said many crows had been found dead. “I threw away six dead crows from near my house this morning,” said Abdul Jabbar of Budhia village.

Residents said 5,000 chickens had died over the past week. Bhopal’s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory has confirmed the presence of the avian flu virus in the area.

The animal resource department is paying Rs 20-50 for a country chicken, Rs 35-75 for a duck and Rs 10 for a quail, depending on the size of the birds. The compensation for a broiler chicken is Rs 40.

Additional district magistrate Purna Chandra Shit said: “We have set up 18 teams of 11 members each to cull over 16,000 birds in the next three days. Each team will include policemen and officials from the panchayat, health and animal resource departments.”

Sale of chickens has been banned in the vicinity of Narhatta, but local Congress MLA Krishnendu Chowdhury demanded a ban across Englishbazar block. “Otherwise, the infection is bound to spread.”



Mamata courts Cong

Mamata Banerjee is ready to align with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections but the party said it was impossible until she severed ties with the BJP.

“I’m ready to tie up with the Congress but the adjustment has to be from the gram panchayat level to the Lok Sabha. There should be a uniform understanding across Bengal,” Mamata told a news conference.

State Congress president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi called it a positive step but, to ensure an alliance, the Trinamul Congress has to quit the BJP-led NDA. “I am assuring Mamata there would be no separate tie-ups for south and north Bengal. We will follow a uniform policy, provided Mamata snaps her NDA ties,” he said.

For the May panchayat polls, Mamata said, the Congress had been keen to forge a pact in south Bengal, where Trinamul was strong, but not in the north. “They (Congress leaders) were breathing down my neck for a pact in south Bengal but about north, they were least bothered because we don’t have a strong base there. I did not approve of this dual policy,” the Trinamul chief said.

Das Munshi, also the information and broadcasting minister, said from Delhi he would clarify with Mamata his party’s stand on a possible pact.

Asked if she would quit the NDA, Mamata ducked the question. “I am leading a secular front of 18 parties in Bengal and will fight the next elections under its banner,” she said.

Some state Congress leaders were hopeful that Mamata would drift away from the BJP.

“She did not fight the Assembly bypolls in Bongaon, Balagarh and Kharba and the Lok Sabha bypolls in Malda and Katwa with the BJP. She had collaborated with the Congress,” said Subrata Mukherjee.



Mamata: Bye-bye BJP?.
Das Munshi had approved “unofficial pacts” with Trinamul for the rural polls. “The results have shown that the CPM lost a large number of seats in all districts because of the unofficial Congress-Trinamul understanding,” said former state party working president Pradip Bhattacharya.

Party switch: Former Congress MP from Behrampore Atish Sinha has decided to join Trinamul. He had resigned from the party after losing the Kandi Assembly seat to an Independent fielded by party MP Adhir Chowdhury in 2006.

CPM man killed

A CPM youth wing member was shot and hacked to death in Murshidabad’s Khagra. Police said two motorcycle-borne men killed Raju Hazra, 35, about 200km from Calcutta. The CPM has called a 12-hour bandh in Behrampore tomorrow.


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