Shops were closed and vehicles stayed off the roads today in Nandigram block II, which was tense due to a 12-hour bandh called by a Trinamool Congress-backed group to protest the death of a member during a gun battle with CPI-M members.All shops, barring medicine stores and tea stalls, downed their shutters in Nandigram bazar, Sonachura, Satengabari and Mahespur localities while buses did not ply in the area, police said.No classes were held in educational institutions, while banks did not function, they said.The bandh was called by the Bhoomi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, which has been opposing the acquisition of farm land for industry in the area.Police were deployed near the CPI-M office in Nandigram bazar, as a BUPC procession, led by Trinamool MLA Shubhendu Adhikari, went around the block.Personnel of the Rapid Action Force, already deployed at Talpatti bridge, kept vigil as CPI-M workers took out the procession in nearby Khejuri, where shops remained open though the situation was tense.Senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee demanded a probe into allegations that CPI-M activists snatched weapons from police during yesterday's gun battle.BUPC member Madhab Mandal was killed and another member of the body was injured in firing by CPI-M activists at Ranichak village in Nandigram block yesterday. BUPC supporters too fired but no casualties were reported among the CPI-M.
