Former CPI-M MP, aides jailed for Nandigram violence

Kolkata, March 27 (IANS) A West Bengal court Tuesday sent former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Laxman Seth and two of his associates, who allegedly plotted the violent incidents in Nandigram in 2007, to judicial custody till April 10.

Seth and two of his aides, Ashok Guriya and Amiya Sahu, were taken to a court in Haldia in East Midnapore, about 80 km from here, amid heavy security. Prohibitory orders were also clamped within the court premises as many locals gathered outside and shouted slogans demanding death penalty for the trio.

The Haldia additional chief judicial magistrate's court after hearing both the parties ordered the trio to be sent to judicial custody till April 10.

Several documents and mobile phones were also seized from the homes of Guria and Sahu, two district level leaders of the CPI-M. A CID team took the duo to Nandigram for reconstruction of the crime scene and recovery of some important documents necessary for the case.

The sleuths inspected the Janani brick kiln in adjacent Khejuri where huge arms and ammunition were allegedly stored by the CPI-M cadres during the movement.

Seth, Guria and Sahu were arrested from a guest house in Chembur area of Mumbai March 17. They were produced at a court in Mumbai which handed them to CID custody on a transit remand till March 22.

Seth, a former MP of Tamluk, which includes Nandigram, and his two comrades are among the 88 people named in the chargesheet filed Jan 30 in relation to the death of six villagers and disappearance of seven others who had gone missing after armed clashes in Nandigram in November 2007.