Bengal Congress seeks direct intervention of Sonia, PM

Kolkata, Mar 20 (UNI) The West Bengal Pradesh Congress today sought the immediate intervention of the Prime Minister and the Congress President to ensure that the CBI inquiry into the Nandigram incident was not ''influenced or distorted under pressure from the ruling CPI (M)''.

Speaking to newspersons here after staging a noisy walkout from the Assembly, Congress Chief Whip Manas Bhunia said separate letters were being faxed to Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, seeking their immediate intervention in this 'serious issue'.

''Only their intervention will ensure an impartial CBI probe into the causes behind the mass murder at Nandigram,'' he said.

Alleging tremendous pressure and hurdles were being created to influence the inquiry of the 10-member CBI team into the causes of the March 14 police firing in which 14 people were killed, Dr Bhunia said they apprehended that the outcome of the probe might even fail to bring out the truth.

''We suspect that as a result of constant pressure, the facts of this brutal incident could also be distorted to a great extent,'' Dr Bhunia said and reiterated his appeal to the Congress leadership to take up the issue with utmost seriousness.

Earlier, flaying the role of Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim X X X here picking up from para five line one of CA8.

UNI