Kolkata:
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader and former West Bengal minister Sushanta Ghosh has been sent to police custody over the recovery of a skeleton from near his residence in West Midnapore district.
Mr Ghosh, minister in the Left Front government for over two decades and now a lawmaker from Garbeta assembly seat, has been given to the custody of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for seven days. This was after his anticipatory bail was cancelled by the chief judicial magistrate's court of West Midnapore.
"The court on Thursday canceled Ghosh's anticipatory bail. It said there was sufficient material against him and granted a seven-day CID custody," said public prosecutor Ardhendu Saha.
In June, seven skeletons were recovered near Mr Ghosh's house in West Midnapore district and led to the arrest of two of his aides. He took anticipatory bail after a villager, Shyamal Acharya, filed an FIR that one of the skeletons, was of his father Ajay Acharya.
It was alleged that on September 22, 2002, Ajay and some other members of the Trinamool Congress were attacked by 40 armed people allegedly belonging to the CPM.
Mr Ghosh was one of the 40 people named in the FIR filed after the incident nine years back.
Seven of the Trinamool Congress members were later brutally killed, the FIR said.
The victims, including Ajay Acharya, have been untraceable since then. On June 4 this year the skeletons were recovered from near a pond in Mallickdanga area.
Two days later, Shyamal Acharya claimed he could identify one of the skeletons as that of his father, on the basis of the dress and teeth.
A case was started against the 40 people, including Ghosh, on June 6. Following Acharya's claim, Mr Ghosh moved Calcutta High Court for anticipatory bail which was granted by the court July 18.
The skeletons were later sent by police for DNA testing to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL). The tests confirmed that two of the skeletons dug out by villagers in Keshpur this June were those of Ajay Acharya and Swapan Raju Singh, who were missing since Sep 22, 2002.
After the DNA reports, the CID, on August 9, sought permission from a Midnapore court to arrest Mr Ghosh.
"The court after due consideration cancelled his bail and directed he be taken into custody for seven days by the CID. He would be later taken to CID headquarters in Kolkata," said public prosecutor Rajdeep Majumdar, appearing for the CID.
Trinamool Congress supporters and villagers threw stones and mud at Mr Ghosh's car when he came to the court for Thursday's hearing. Police had to resort to baton charge to disperse the crowd which kept shouting slogans against Mr Ghosh and his party.
Hailing the court order, Trinamool Congress leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said: "His arrest proves our claims that the CPM always indulged in the politics of violence and vendetta."
Mr Ghosh, however, claimed that he was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case.
The CPM said it would extend all help to the former minister in his legal battle.