Thaindian News

Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police Friday filed the charge-sheet in the skeleton recovery case of the state’s West Midnapore district.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sushanta Ghosh is in judicial custody in connection with the case.

“A 1,100-page charge-sheet has been filed, in which 58 people have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including criminal conspiracy, rioting and murder,” K. Jayaraman, Deputy Inspector General of Police, CID, Operations, told IANS.

The charge-sheet, filed after 88 days since the first arrest in the case, includes 18 people other than the 40 named in the FIR lodged in the matter. Of the 58 people, 16 have been arrested so far, including former minister Ghosh, said another CID officer.

In June, seven skeletons were recovered near Ghosh’s house, which led to the arrest of two of his aides. Ghosh himself took anticipatory bail after a villager, Shyamal Acharya, filed a police complaint that one of the skeletons was of his father, Ajay Acharya.

The FIR claimed that on Sep 22, 2002, Ajay and some other members of the Trinamool Congress were attacked by the 40 armed people allegedly belonging to the CPI-M.

Seven Trinamool Congress members were later brutally killed, the FIR said.

The victims, including Ajay Acharya, were untraceable since then. On June 4 this year, the skeletons were recovered from near a pond in the 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.

Proceedings started against the 40 people on June 6.

Ghosh was arrested Aug 11 after a West Midnapore court cancelled his anticipatory bail granted by the Calcutta High Court. He is currently in judicial custody.