Body with bullet holes dug out- Wife of BUPC supporter says shirt belonged to her husband

Nandigram, Dec. 12: A body with two bullet holes was to- day dug out of the suspected grave that had been found in Parulbari village.

A woman, Shyamali Pramanick, saw the decomposed remains and said it was that of her husband's.

Haren, aged around 37, was a Bhoomi Uchchhed Pra- tirodh Committee supporter. His family said he went missing on November 7 while returning home from the Nandigram block hospital, where his father was being treated for a heart ailment.

Shyamali Pramanick, who identified the body that was dug out as her husband's, looks at the grave. (Jahangir Badsa)

Shyamali and her sister-in-law Sephali identified Haren by his blue striped shirt and a talisman around the waist.

"We had received a missing diary about Haren Pramanick. Now we will treat it as a murder case," said East Midnapore superintendent of police S.S. Panda.

CBI superintendents Sujit Pandey and R.R. Sahay also visited the spot to probe whether the exhumed body had anything to do with the March 14 police firing.

Maheshpur, adjoining Parulbari, and its neighbouring villages had witnessed heavy gun battles between CPM and Pratirodh Committee supporters from October 28 to the first week of November.

Hundreds thronged Parulbari this morning as news that the body would be dug out spread. They were covering their nose to ward off the stench as the body was being pulled out.

After about half an hour of digging, the spades hit something hard and a human skull with tufts of hair could be seen. Further digging revealed a rotting and torn gunny bag, through which a pair of navy blue trousers stuck out. The dead man had his hands tied behind his back.

"One bullet had pierced the abdomen and the other the shoulders," a police officer said.

As soon as the body was exhumed, committee conveners Sheikh Sufiyan and Abdus Samad claimed that it was Pramanick's. They called Shyamali and Sephali to identify it.

"I could not recognise the face. But when the dirt was removed from the shirt, I recog-nised it. A close look and I could make out it was him," Shyamali said, clutching her nine-year-old son Toton and crying .

"We also identified the ghunshi (talisman) my brother wore," said Sephali.

"My father (Bhushan, 65) lost his will to live after hearing about his only son's death. He passed away on November 30. We performed his shraadh today before coming here."

Parulbari is about 2km from Kamalpur, where the Pramanicks live.

The CRPF today found a used 9mm bullet and a spent .315 cartridge from the area. Twenty-three used .315 cartridges were found yesterday.

CM statement

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will make a statement on the role of the CRPF in Nandigram in the Assembly tomorrow.

CPM leaders had been accusing the force of harassing villagers from the time it arrived in Nandigram.

The CPM state secretariat met this evening to finalise the contents of the statement. The chief minister and the home secretary had earlier lauded the role of the CRPF.

A group of party MPs led by Basudev Acharya will visit Nandigram tomorrow.