The tantriks and Avadhutas (Anandaspeak for monks) of Anandanagar have the December 1995 arms-drop behind them but the stigma and tension linger on. Sitting in one of the scores of Ananda Marg buildings dotting the hilly area, Vitamohananda Avadhut, Ananadanagar's `Rector Master' says: ``The arms-drop case was part of a deep-rooted conspiracy of the West Bengal Government against us. They simply want to finish us.''

Sitting by his side is Narayanananda Avadhut, `chairman' of Anandanagar, who brings out poster-sized photographs of Avadhutas allegedly ``butchered'' by CPI(M) activists asproof of the victimisation. ``You cannot imagine the extent of the problem we face at the hands of the State Government,'' he says. ``For instance, we got permission in 1990 for a telephone line for Anandanagar. But we have still don't have the connection.''

Nonetheless, behind the protective screen of the Purulia hills, the Ananda Marg has quietly built its sprawling commune comprising administrative buildings, prayer halls, colleges, schools and hospitals. Today, Anandanagar is a self-contained township. The Margis have constructed their own dams, planted sandalwood forests, grown strawberry farms and are running factories, small-scale industries and even a degree college. And with every passing day, their land holdings in Purulia are increasing.

All the while, the district administration of Purulia has been waiting. And watching. Purulia's District Magistrate D. Basu says that the ownership of about 500 acres with the Ananda Marg was subject to court cases and that their outcome would decide the futureof the sect. ``Much of the land is vested land of the State Government but the Margis have been challenging this in court. What these people do inside Anandanagar remains a mystery even to us,'' he says.

However, the police and intelligence officials of Purulia boast that they have good ``source information'' about the goings-on inside Anandanagar. Intelligence reports prepared after conclusion of some earlier sammelans reveal that the sect has switched to deploying Nepali security guards instead of Indians and have acquired wireless sets for better communication.

A sammelan begins by hoisting of Swastik flags; ``revolutionary'' marriages and discourses in tantrik art and meditation are part of the proceedings and sizable donations are collected from followers, both Indian and foreign.Confidential intelligence reports show that the Margis have been involved in 37 police cases and have nine cases of land disputes pending in different courts in the State. The Ananda Marga Pracharak Sangha has moved theCalcutta High Court against each order of vesting passed by the State Government.

The most significant is the dispute over ownership of 164.87 acres originally ``gifted'' to the sect founded by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar by the Raja of Joypur (a village where the first Ananada Marg building came up) in 1962. The same year, the Ananda Marg shifted its headquarters from Jamalpur, Bihar, to Purulia and soon the transfer of land was challenged by the State Government. The State Government claimed this to be ``vested'' land and wanted it surrendered. In the list of suits against the Ananda Marg, this plot is shown to be 178.45 acres. The final order in the case is expected soon.

Some 52 villages are located within the Anandanagar commune and the villagers recall how the alleged land-grab began in the early '60s. The Margis did not allow cattle to graze inside and began fencing off the area, leading to several clashes. Recalls Rustam Ali, of Chitnu village, one of the closest to the Rector Master's office: ``Manyvillagers sold off their land to the Margis and got compensation. What the Margis did thereafter was to occupy a large piece of vested land along with the land sold by the villagers. This is how their holdings increased.''

Intelligence reports state that the pace of land acquisition and construction slowed down considerably after the December 1995 arms-drop resulting in a ``lull'' and ``poor turnout'' being reported in source reports during the May 1996 sammelan.

The Margis assiduously denied they had anything to do with the arms-drop but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) maintained it has proof of links of some of the accused persons with the sect. The case, incidentally, is in progress in a Calcutta court and examination of the 350 listed witnesses has begun. The Latvian and British Governments have recently activated diplomatic channels and have been permitted to meet the accused lodged in Calcutta's Presidency Jail and BBC has begun work on a documentary on the AN-26 arms-drop.

Even as theconspiracy begins to unfold in court, police officials in Purulia claim that activities inside Anandanagar have now returned to a pre-1995 pace and that the Margis have even tried to purchase the few weapons stolen by the villagers after the arms-drop. They also say they got source information about Randy or Avadhut Suranjananda -- an accused in the arms-drop case -- trying to sneak into Anandanagar during the maha-sammelans. (Incidentally, in January this year, working on a similar tip-off, a raiding party searched Aanandanagar but failed to find Randy.)

Avadhut Narayananda says that the State administration has ordered several such ``raids'' to intimidate and harass them. ``During the raids, Anandanagar resembles an army cantonment. Much as they try to, the police has not been able to pin us down to any anti-national activity,'' he claims. But Purulia's top police officials say there was still no scope for complacency. As Adhir Sharma, Purulia's Superintendent of Police puts it: ``The Margis remain asource of tension for the people and the police. We closely watch the goings-on when major events like the maha-sammelan are held in Anandanagar.''

Rain of arms

More than two years after an AN-26 plane dropped arms in seven villages in the Purulia district, the formal trial has begun in a Calcutta court. Peter Bleach, the former British army officer is the main accused. The others are six Latvians and Vinay Singh, an Indian who was recently denied bail.

The CBI -- which has always maintained that the Ananda Marg was behind the mysterious arms-drop -- has listed 350 witnesses in the case. Curiously, in a statement given in October last year, the Interpol Secretary General criticised the agency for not seeking their help in the arms-drop case. ``This would have been a perfect case for the Interpol,'' the Director General, R.E. Kendall had said.

The recording of witnesses began on March 11. The Latvian and British governments activated diplomatic channels and have been permitted to meet theaccused lodged in Calcutta's Presidency Jail. Bleach himself had lodged a complaint about leaks of investigation details to the press. His counsel who met him in Presidency Jail returned to London to lodge a complaint with the Government there about the snail's pace of the arms-drop trial.

Yet another twist has been the request made by the CBI for the trial to be shifted from Calcutta. The CBI has stated that an examination of seized arms which were lying in the Barrackpore armoury and the AN-26 which was lying in the Sahar Airport in Mumbai was imperative at this stage. Since it would be difficult and dangerous to shift these exhibits to Calcutta, they have asked for the trial to be shifted to a more appropriate place.