Amidst growing political uproar over the killing of civilians in police firing in Nandigram, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday rushed a special director to make an assessment of the situation following the unearthing of evidence that bodies were dragged away from the area where clashes occurred on March 14.
Sources in the agency said there were some 'dragging marks' at the site of the incident, and this lead was being pursued by sleuths.
The evidence had led to speculation that the number of killed or injured could be more than the figures given by the state government, they said.
The CBI sent Special Director M L Sharma to wrap up the investigations conducted earlier by a three-member team led by Joint Director B B Mishra.
The questioning of a few people in villages in Nandigram had not yielded much because
they were reluctant to open up to the CBI team as they feared for their lives, the sources said, adding that some weapons had been seized from the spot and handed over to local police.
The agency stepped up its probe after registering a preliminary enquiry and is now preparing a status report to be submitted to the Calcutta high court, on whose direction the case was handed over to the CBI.
Preliminary investigations have suggested that a large number of 'armed outsiders' could have been part of the mob involved in the clashes on March 14, when 14 people were killed in police firing and violence.
Some evidence collected from the spot had been sent to a forensic laboratory for tests, the sources said. Local police arrested 10 people under the Arms Act on Sunday. They have been remanded to police custody for four days.