Senior cop quizzed in skeleton case

“During investigation,we have got clues and we have collected evidence against some senior police officers of the period when the incident took place. Apart from Sushanta Ghosh,we have arrested some other persons who are also accused in the case and we have got certain leads from them,” said a CID source.

When contacted,Director General of CID V Thamvi said: “We do not call it interrogation. We can speak with the police officers who worked in the area at the relevant point of time for the sake of our investigation.”

Meanwhile,Madan Santra,one of the 40 persons named in the FIR,has agreed to turn ‘approver’ in the case. Santra,who was earlier a member of the CPM’s Garbeta local committee,had led the police and TMC leaders to the spot at Benachapra in Garbeta from where the skeletons were dug out.

Santra had surrendered to the CID late on Tuesday night. A CID source confirmed that he had surrendered and agreed to become an approver.

“Madan surrendered to us yesterday. He told us that after seeing media reports on the case,he felt he should surrender to us. We will examine his role in the case,” K Jayaraman,DIG (Operations),CID,said.

The CID had on Tuesday also arrested one Kalipada Chaudury from Chandrakona in connection with the case. He was produced in the CJM court,which remanded him in police custody for three days.

Custody of Ghosh extended

A Midnapore court on Wednesday sent former minister Sushanta Ghosh to police custody for four more days in connection with the Garbeta skeleton case. Ghosh’s counsel opposed the prosecution’s plea to extend Ghosh’s CID custody on the grounds that he was ill. The court granted the CID custody for four days.

Sushanta Ghosh threatened to go on an indefinite hunger-strike alleging mental torture. Ghosh said he had been interrogated continuously for 30 hours by the CID as a result of which he fell ill. He said the interrogation was a ‘mental torture’ and he would go an indefinite hunger-strike in protest.