Thaindian News

Kolkata, Sep 10 (IANS) Following his brother Prashanta’s arrest in the Midnapore skeleton case, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sushanta Ghosh Monday claimed the arrest as “political vendetta” while one of the counsels threatened to move the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) for alleged neglect of the “ailing” arrestee.

“There is a big wound in his leg and he (Prashanta) needs immediate medical attention which has been denied. His only crime is that he is my brother and the arrest is purely a result of political vengeance,” Ghosh said lashing out at the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government.

Prashanta was nabbed Friday by the Criminal Investigating Department (CID) from a hotel in Puri in Odisha.

Sushanta and fellow Marxist leader Abdur Razzak Molla, both ministers in the erstwhile Left Front government in the state, had come to the CID headquarters in the city to meet Prashanta who was brought in here Monday for interrogation.

While Sushanta and a counsel were allowed to meet the arrestee, Molla was denied permission.

Claiming Prashanta’s arrest as illegal, his counsel Rana Ganguly threatened to move the rights panel for alleged infringement of his client’s rights.

“The charge-sheet in the case had been filed a year ago and arresting him now is infringement of my client’s rights. Moreover, his leg is in bad condition which requires immediate medical attention, but the same has been denied. We are mulling to move the WBHRC seeking redressal,” said Ganguly.

Both the Ghosh brothers have been named in the FIR filed after recovery of skeletons near Sushanta’s house in West Midnapore district in June last year. Following the recovery, a villager, Shyamal Acharya, filed a police complaint, claiming that one of the skeletons was of his father Ajay Acharya.

The FIR filed in the case claimed that on Sep 22, 2002, Acharya and some other members of the Trinamool Congress were attacked by 40 armed people belonging to the CPI-M, including Sushanta.

Sushanta was arrested August last year and is now in bail after the Supreme Court granted him the relief in February this year.