Bodies of two Maoist victims yet to be recovered

KOLKATA - The bodies of two people killed by suspected Maoists were found on the banks of the Tarafeni river on the border between West Bengal’s West Midnapore and Bankura districts Sunday, but are yet to be recovered by the police due to differences over jurisdiction.

“Two bodies were found lying on the river bank near the West Midnapore-Bankura border by the local people in the morning. But police are yet to recover the two bullet-ridden bodies,” local people alleged.

A villager said: “One of the bodies has been identified as that of Chitta Dandapath, a resident of Mohonpur near Binpur in West Midnapore. He was missing since last Monday when he went to a haat (local market) in Kulia but did not return.”

The villagers alleged that as the area where the two bodies are lying is near the West-Midnapore-Bankura border, the West Midnapore police blamed the Bankura police for not recovering the bodies yet.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a police officer of West Midnapore’s Binpur police station said that the Raipur police station in Bankura has been informed to recover the bodies.

However, West Midnapore police chief Manoj Verma said that they “have no knowledge about the bodies on the Tarafeni river bank”.