<b>Nandigram Row</b>: HC asks govt to file report

The Calcutta High Court, which today opened a CBI report on the police action in Nandigram in which 14 persons were killed, directed the West Bengal government to place before it a status report on the troubled area by tomorrow.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice P C Ghose, after going through the CBI report, said the central investigating agency had given its report on the basis of its findings till March 23 and was inconclusive.

The bench quoted a paragraph of the report, which said the CBI could not come to any definite conclusion yet.

The court directed state Advocate General Balai Roy to submit a status report on the situation in Nandigram till date to get a clear picture.

Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for one of the several petitioners in the case, submitted that the situation in Nandigram was very volatile and that one person was killed and some others injured in fresh clashes last Sunday while some artistes and intellectuals who had gone to the troubled area to distribute relief were assaulted yesterday.

The court directed that the CBI report, except for the one paragraph that it read out, would remain in sealed cover till further direction. The matter would be heard again tomorrow.

The Chief Justice had, just a day after the police action on March 14, directed the CBI to enquire into the police firing at Nandigram and to submit a report.

Gun shots were fired and a house set ablaze as clashes between CPM and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) supporters erupted today.

Shots were fired at Chatingabari, Kamalpur, Dakapara villages forcing about 100 people to leave their homes for safety, a PTI correspondent on the scene said.

A house, belonging to a CPI(M) supporter, was also set on fire at Satengobari. No one was injured in the clashes and arson.

In Kolkata, Home Secretary P R Roy told newsmen that the police were not entering Nandigram apprehending trouble.

Roy said the state government would convene an all-party meeting and was making efforts to bring all parties to attend it for restoring peace at Nandigram.

Yesterday, theatre artistes and intellectuals who had gone to distribute relief materials at Chandipur, 25 km from here, were attacked by CPI(M) supporters and their vehicle was damaged.

Nandigram has been tense since Sunday when one person was killed in clashes between supporters of the CPI-M and the BUPC.