Another Netai massacre accused arrested from Jharkhand

JHARGRAM: West Bengal police have arrested from Jharkhand the absconding CPI(M) leader Anuj Pandey, an accused of the infamous Netai massacre case of 2011, in which CPI(M) activists allegedly fired upon villagers killing nine persons in West Midnapore district.

CID Special Superintendent Bharati Ghosh said Pandey, CPI(M)'s Binpur zonal committee secretary, was arrested from Chandrapura in Bokaro district of Jharkhand yesterday.

CID had produced Pandey before a Bokaro court and obtained a transit remand for him. He would be produced before a court in Burdwan district in West Bengal later in the day, she said.

With Anuj Pandey's arrest, altogether six persons were taken into custody since April 30 when five more accused in the case were captured from a hideout in Hyderabad.

The five who were arrested from Hyderabad were Dalim Pandey (Anuj's cousin), Rathin Dandapat from whose house the firing allegedly took place, Joydeb Giri, Tapan De and Md Khaliluddin. They were all local leaders of the CPI(M).

Of the 20 accused in the case, 18 have so far been arrested while two, Fullara Mandal and Chandi Karan, are still absconding.

Nine persons were killed in indiscriminate firing allegedly from Dandapat's house at Netai village in West Midnapore district on January 7, 2011.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the massacre in February, 2011 expressing dissatisfaction with a CID probe then.

After the arrests in Hyderabad, Ghosh had said the five would be handed over to the CBI.