January 12, 2011
Trinamool leaders visit Netai
Netai, Jan. 11: Trinamul Congress leaders with the party’s culture clan in tow today visited Netai, four days after the firing that killed seven persons. Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, demanded a CBI probe into the deaths. Villagers today put up posters in the village echoing the demand. The posters also called for the setting up of a police camp in Netai. Around 12.15pm, Chatterjee reached the village along with party MP Subhendu Adhikari, vice-president Derek O’Brien, theatre personalities Shaoli Mitra and Bratya Basu, painters Suvaprasanna and Samir Aich, and poet Joy Goswami, among others. Villager Dwarkanath Panda, 55, who took out an empty cartridge from his pocket, recounted the events leading to the firing. “We did not go there with an intention to attack those in the camp. We only protested when the CPM men in the camp wanted our boys for arms training. Suddenly they started firing at us,†he told the Trinamul delegation. Chatterjee told the villagers that Trinamul did not fully trust the CID. “As the CID is a state government-controlled agency, we are doubtful (of the agency’s impartiality). We want the real truth to emerge and that is why we demand a CBI probe,†said Chatterjee.
