CID registers fresh murder case into Nandigram violence

The West Bengal CID has started a fresh murder case related to the violence during the Nandigram movement of 2007 and named former CPI(M) MP Lakshman Seth and 15 others as accused in the case, a statement said today.

The move was initiated after family members of two victims moved a local court seeking re-investigation into the missing cases, it said adding that the court has directed the CID to register murder cases, the CID statement said.

"We have taken up investigation of the abduction and murder cases of Durgapada Maity and Subrata Samanta in 2007. Lakshman Seth and 15 others were named accused in the FIR in this case," it said.

Seth, who had switched over to the BJP in 2016, was named as the main accused in the case.

On March 14, 2007, at the height of anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram in West Midnapore district, 14 persons were killed in alleged police firing on agitators. The CPI(M)-led Left Front was ruling the state at that time.

Incidentally, the CBI had filed multiple chargesheets in the case and arrested a few CPI(M) workers.