CPI(M) leader arrested in Singur murder case

Kolkata, June 28 (UNI) In a major development that gave a new twist to the anti-land acquisition movement in Singur, CBI sleuths arrested a CPI(M) leader in connection with the Tapasi Malik murder case today.

Suhrid Dutta, Singur zonal committee member of the CPI(M) in Hooghly district, was apprehended following prolonged interrogation, raising the number of arrests to two in connection with the gruesome incident.

Earlier in the day' Debu Malik, prime suspect in the case and four others, including Dutta, were grilled at the Salt Lake office of the CBI. They were summoned by the CBI in connection with the case.

'' We have arrested Mr Dutta. He is one of the conspirators, '' CBI SP B K Sahay said confirming the report.

Though Dutta was let-off along with three others after hours of questioning, he was picked up on his way back home and made to undergo a medical check-up before being arrested, CBI sources said.

According to sources, Debu Malik, who was brought to the city today after being arrested following a narco-analysis test in Delhi, provided some important leads during interrogation.

The charred body of 18-year-old Tapasi, stated to be an activists of the Trinamool Congress-led Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, was found near the site of the Tata Motors's small car project at Singur in Hooghly district on December 18 last year, during the height of the anti-land acquisition movement.

Stated to be a CPI(M) supporter, Debu Malik was in charge of the guards protecting the boundary wall in Singur at night.

A distant relation of the victim, Malik will be produced in a district court.

Earlier, he was produced in a Delhi court on Sunday last for allegedly killing Tapsi, who was stated to be an activist of the Trinamool Congress-led Krishi Jami Raksha Committee which was spearheading an agitation against land acquisition for the project.

As his arrest provided fodder to the Trinamool Congress in its camapaign against the CPI(M), Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said yesterday that the guilty would be punished irrespective of party affiliation.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged that the CPI(M) was still trying to ''manipulate and hush up'' the case to bail out the accused.

'' It is now been proved who killed Tapsi. She was raped and burnt alive. Ever since the murder, the CPI(M) has been trying to hush up the case and it is still trying to manipulate it, '' she said.

However, terming it a political conspiracy, CPI(M) Central Committee member Benoy Konar said the way Tapasi's body was taken near the project site needed to be probed.

'' If Debu has committed a crime' the law must take its own course. But that the body was taken to the spot where it was found is a political conspiracy, '' he said.

UNI