Another CPM strongman in dock

AFTER CPM MLA Sushanta Ghosh and former party MP Lakshman Seth, it's now the the turn of another Marxist strongman who is finding himself in dock. Deepak Sarkar is considered one of the most powerful person in the Junglemahal area — West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts — which in recent years had been a hotbed of Maoist activities in the state. But on Thursday, he was among the 12 CPM men, who were named in a FIR by the police after they recovered 70 single-barrel rifles from a dump

An FIR has been lodged against Deepak Sarkar after police recovered 70 single barrel rifles from a dump at the CPM party office premises at Enayatpur in West Midnapore. The party office was allegedly been used as a camp of armed CPM cadres in the run-up to the 2011 Assembly elections in the state.

Police said they are investigating the matter and discounted any political pressure from the ruling Trinamool behind naming Sarkar in the FIR. "The villagers informed us that they have seen some people at night who were trying to dug land at the CPM party office premises. We reached the spot and after digging the area, we recovered 70 improvised arms. We have received a complaint from the villagers against people. We are investigating into the matter," said a senior police officer of the district.

The complaint against Sarkar and 11 others, including Vijay Pal, a CPM district secretariat member, was lodged by Anjan Bera, a resident of Manidaha village of Enayatpur.

"From our party we did not send police there," said local Trinamool leader Nirmal Ghosh, and added, "these are common people of the area who informed the police about the dump."

Till date, Sarkar had no police record. He remained the secretary of the CPM's West Midnapore district committee for decades. One of the documents collected during the Netai killing probe by the CBI, and accessed by The Indian Express, indicated that Sarkar, a former professor of political science in Midnapore College, had proposed at a state committee meeting that armed CPM camps be set up to resist Maoists in villages in West Midnapore and Bankura.

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