Skeleton case: CPI-M MLA in more trouble

The Criminal Investigation Department on Saturday hinted that former Communist Party of India - Marxist minister Sushanta Ghosh could be subjected to a lie detector test, as an unspecified number of cartridges were seized during a search of his three residences in West Midnapore district and Kolkata on Saturday.

"We might go for a polygraph test of Ghosh if needed," a senior officer of CID said.

Ghosh, the sitting legislator of Garbeta, was arrested on August 11. He has named some top party leaders in connection with the discovery of skeletons from a pit near his ancestral residence in West Midnapore.

"During interrogation, he has named some top leaders, but for the sake of investigation we cannot divulge the details," said the officer.

During the searches at his residences, cartridges and important documents were seized by the CID.

"We have found some documents from his houses, but details cannot be divulged," DIG, CID, K Jayaraman said.

The cartridges were found from the Benachapra residence in West Midnapore. Seven skeletons were dug up from a nearby pit on June 2, while his other residences at
Chandrakona and one at D L Khan Road in Kolkata were also searched, CID sources said.

Ghosh was questioned at the CID headquarters at Bhavani Bhavan in Kolkata for the second consecutive day on Saturday.

A nine-member CID team led by the investigating officer in the case Purnashree Mukherjee searched the residence at Benachapra and the one at Chandrakona, sources said.

The CID team took the former minister's wife Karuna and brother-in-law Aurobindo Bandhopadhay from their Chandrakona residence to Benachapra for questioning, they said.

A CID official said that Ghosh claimed that he was visiting his ill father in Kolkata on September 22, 2002 when seven Trinamool Congress workers were allegedly abducted and killed by CPI-M cadre from Piyasala village in West Midnapore and their bodies buried.

"We are checking the details to ascertain whether his statement is correct," he said.

The CID was also taking the help of the Central Forensic Laboratory to ascertain the cause of death of the seven skeletons found, he said.

Ghosh was arrested on August 11 following the rejection of his plea for extension of anticipatory bail by a Midnapore court after a report by the CID that the DNA of two out of seven skeletons matched those of two missing Trinamool Congress supporters, Ajoy Acharya and Raju Sinha.