Vedic fire: resort official held for land grab

“Earlier,we had detained Biswas but we did not find any evidence against him,” said Superintendent of Police Rahul Srivastava.

Just 24 hours ago,the state chief secretary had rejected the possibility of arresting the top bosses of the resort,saying that the cache of arms was recovered from the premises of the resort and it could not be linked to the project’s management.

But with the growing chorus from the Left Front partners against police inaction and their failure to maintain law and order in the area,CPM state secretary Biman Bose and senior leaders of the party today questioned the role of the local administration.

“The administration should be more firm in resolving the case,” Bose said.

“What was the police doing on the day of violence? Where were they when the body of the youth was taken away by Trinamool MLA Arabul Islam?” asked CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty. “If there is no legal problem,the management of the resort should also be arrested,” said Chakraborty.

The CPM is,however,worried about the possible involvement of any of the party’s key functionaries in the land-grabbing cases and their links to muscleman Gaffar.

Sources said some CPM party cadres have got jobs in the resort. “But we want to get a clear picture on the issue of direct involvement of any of our key functionaries in land-grabbing,” said a senior CPM leader.

A section of police officers in North 24-Parganas,however,believes that Biswas was arrested to let off the real culprits. With his arrest,doubts have spread among political leaders as well as the administration that the owners of the company will not be booked.

Earlier,Raj Kisore Modi,the managing director of Vedic Village Private Limited,had rejected allegations of having any links with Gaffar. He had said that his company is also working for a joint venture project in collaboration with state government,apart from the Vedic village project. The ambitious township project would need around 1520 acres land,for which they have already purchased about 500 acres. After buying the entire land,the Vedic management will give 600 acres to the government.

Interestingly,BJP leader Tapan Sikdar today visited the resort and local Trinamool leader of instigating violence in the area.