Mamata Banerjee asks cops to dig out arms, watch for party feuds

The directive was sent on a day CM visited Bogtui in Birbhum district where eight people had been charred to death soon after a TMC leader was murdered on Monday

Mamata Banerjee at Bogtui on Thursday, speaking to the family members of the eight persons who were killed.: Pritam Das

Pranesh Sarkar And Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |  Calcutta/Bolpur   |   25.03.22 : The Mamata Banerjee government on Thursday directed police superintendents and commissioners in Bengal to launch a 10-day “special drive” to unearth illegal arms and ammunition.

The directive was sent on a day the chief minister visited Bogtui near Rampurhat in Birbhum district where eight people had been charred to death soon after a deputy panchayat chief of the Trinamul Congress had been murdered on Monday night.

The police bosses in the districts and the commissionerates have also been instructed to start collecting intelligence about rivalries within a party and between parties immediately and initiate measures wherever there is a possibility of violence.

“As directed by DG West Bengal, a 10-day special drive to uncover illegal arms and ammunition will be carried out throughout the state with immediate effect. All SPs and CPs are instructed to launch a massive drive for recovery of illegal firearms and ammunition all over the state,” read an order issued by Jawed Shamim, additional director general of police overseeing law and order in the state.

The order, issued on Thursday afternoon, follows Mamata Banerjee’s instruction to the DGP to recover all illegal arms and bombs across the state.

“Jekhane joto boma astro aachey uddhar korte hobey (All (illegal arms and bombs need to be recovered from wherever they are stored),” Mamata told Manjoj Malaviya, the director general of police, during her visit to the site of the carnage.

Shamim’s order states that all additional director generals of police, inspector generals of police and zonal deputy inspector generals of police “shall visit all the districts and personally supervise the drive”.

In a separate order, the state government told all the SPs and the commissioners that they should convey to district intelligence officers the need to gather intelligence inputs on inter-party or intra-party rivalries.

“DIOs (District Intelligence Officers) will categorise wards/GPs as A, B, C depending on their sensitivity and point out specific instances where such rivalry is even remotely likely to cause violence. SPs shall direct the OCs/ICs to take strong preventive measures and actions in the sensitive areas so identified,” reads the order.

Senior officers said this was the first time that the state government issued a stern order to confiscate illegal arms and ammunition and collect intelligence on possible inter-party and intra-party feuds. Several of them said they couldn’t recall the government passing such a clear order to the police when the left Front was in power.

“This is important because the ruling establishment acknowledged for the first time that there is intra-party rivalry. The step had to be initiated as a preliminary investigation pointed out that rivalry between two Trinamul groups led to the massacre at Bogtui,” said a senior bureaucrat.

The chief minister made it clear during her visit to Bogtui that anyone responsible for the massacre wouldn’t be spared.

“The SDPO did not discharge his duty. The IC did not do his job either. Nor did the DIB play its role. I want proper action against all those who did not act or failed to act,” Mamata said.

Soon, the inspector-in-charge of Rampurhat police station, Tridip Pramanik, was suspended and the subdivisional police officer of Rampurhat, Sayan Ahmad, was put on compulsory waiting.

Sources at Nabanna said the SIT set up by the state government was investigating the failure on the part of the police to prevent the massacre. “The SIT is investigating the role of each of the police officers posted in the area. If required, phone call records of all police personnel concerned will be examined. The SIT would also find out whether a section of policemen was a party to the conspiracy,” said a senior IPS officer.

Firearm unit 

Police unearthed an illegal firearm manufacturing unit at a house in West Burdwan’s Rupnarayanpur on Thursday. Three residents of Munger in Bihar who were allegedly engaged in the manufacture of the arms were arrested.

The incident comes barely three weeks before the Asansol Lok Sabha bypoll. Rupnarayanpur is in the Asansol Lok Sabha segment and near the Jharkhand border.

A dozen unfinished pistols and raw material for manufacturing firearms were seized.

Dinesh Chowdhury, who allegedly rented the house to the arrested trio, was detained for interrogation.

(Additional reporting by Abhijeet Chatterjee)