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Trinamul revises toll from 18 to 6

Rifat Jawaid in Garbeta

In a striking turnaround, the Trinamul Congress on Saturday said the number of its supporters allegedly killed in Garbeta block of Midnapore district was six and not 18 as it had claimed on Friday.

Senior Trinamul leader Pankaj Banerjee had said on Friday that 18 members of the family of a party activist were burnt alive in Choto Anguria village in Garbeta.

On Saturday afternoon, Union Railway Minister and Trinamul Congress president Mamata Banerjee visited the village with several of her party legislators. Attacking West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, she said law and order in the state had collapsed since he had taken charge.

She, however, was flummoxed when the inconsistencies in her party's claims on the alleged massacre were pointed out. Visibly enraged, she said, "How do you expect us to have exact details when we are yet to find the bodies? The CPI-M cadre and the local police have taken away all the dead bodies. And the relatives of the victims have fled the village fearing further attacks. I demand a thorough CBI inquiry into the killings and the immediate resignation of Buddhadev Bhattacharya."

She said she had collected some charred human bones and bloodstained clothes of the victims handed over to her by villagers and would show them to National Democratic Alliance convener and Union Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Banerjee said she had information that CPI-M cadres and the police had removed the bodies in a jeep and "buried them" in the Jaipur jungle in neighbouring Bankura district.

Pankaj Banerjee on his part called Bhattacharya a liar who "does not deserve to remain in power".

The village was deserted when the media team covering Banerjee's visit reached it. The two-storeyed mud house, reportedly owned by a man named Abdul Rehman, stood gutted when political leaders and media personnel visited the spot.

But what was surprising was the ubiquitous presence of used cartridges of .303 rifles. Mamata Banerjee alleged that they were manufactured in the Cossipore Gun & Shell Factory and could only have been used by police. But others, mainly Communist Party of India, Marxist, activists, claimed the cartridges had been planted there by Trinamul workers.

The railway minister's visit to Garbeta was preceded by the arrival of Congress MP Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi early in the morning. Dasmunshi too expressed his inability when asked to comment on the toll. "I can't say about any casualties, but the fact is that Abdul Rehman's house has been burnt. That the police has not been able to nab any of the culprits as yet shows the total failure of law and order in the area. I feel the situation is fit for President's rule. I will convey my observations to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. It's up to her to decide."

Midnapore District Magistrate M V Rao told rediff.com that it was impossible to verify the legitimacy of the Trinamul Congress claim on the toll without the police investigation being completed.

"The story is changing quite fast," he said. "Yesterday Rehman said in his FIR that the assailants had killed all his family members. But in the afternoon we managed to find all of them safe and sound. Then he changed his story and said it was his friends that the CPI-M cadres had set ablaze. Only the findings of the investigation will help us solve this mystery."

Some others felt that those being described as dead might have gathered in Rehman's house for retaliatory action against their political rivals who, by Mamata Banerjee's claims, had thrown them out of the village a few months ago.

Meanwhile, the NDA team comprising five members of Parliament could not reach Garbeta on Saturday. They will now reach Midnapore on Sunday evening and visit Garbeta on Monday morning.

Former West Bengal Congress chief Somen Mitra admitted that the incident had brought the Congress and the Trinamul closer together. Mitra, whom Mamata Banerjee had once described as captain of the B team of the Marxists, spent about 10 minutes discussing the issue with her. He later said that if the Trinamul Congress broke away from the BJP, there was every likelihood of the Congress entering into a mahajot with it.

Additional reporting by the Press Trust of India

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