CBI team visits Netai to investigate Jan 7 killings

KOLKATA - Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths visited Netai village of West Midnapore district Saturday to probe the Jan 7 shootings which left nine people dead and several injured, police said.

“We visited the Netai and adjacent Birkara village Saturday. We met the villagers and listened to their grievances about the incident. Several eyewitnesses of the incident were also grilled,” CBI’s Police Superintendent and in-charge of Special Crime Branch (SCB) Arun Bothra said.

Bothra, however, refused to divulge further details.

Nine people, including four women, were killed and 28 people injured in the clashes triggered by assailants allegedly backed by the ruling Marxists in Netai near the Maoist stronghold Lalgarh in West Midnapore district.

The CBI sleuths divided themselves into two groups and went to Birkara village adjacent to Netai and visited the house of a former school teacher Indrajit Das, known to be an active member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), a senior police officer said.

It was alleged that the armed cadres from the CPI-M camp set up in Indrajit’s house rushed to the spot on being informed that villagers have surrounded their comrades in Netai.

Locals were asked whether any armed camp was set up in Das’s house but the villagers refused to speak, he said. CBI sleuths again visited Netai later Saturday evening and spoke to the villagers.

CBI took over the investigation into the Netai case Feb 22 from the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The Calcutta High Court, after hearing a public interest litigation filed by the Calcutta bar Association seeking CBI inquiry into the Netai killings, Feb 18 expressed dissatisfaction over the probe conducted by the CID and directed the state government to hand over the case to the CBI.