Sainbari files recovered after 4 decades

The case files of the Sainbari massacre happened 40 years back in West Bengal, could be traced out of piles of files in the High Court of Calcutta,  putting CPI(M) into neck-deep trouble. The files were untraceable for the past three and half decades. These files has direct a political ramification on CPI(M) as one of its politburo member and Nirupam Sen, the man behind the Singur-Nandigram projects, is one of the accused. Also he was the Industry minister under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government. Another is party’s central committee member Binoy Konar, president of farmers’ body. The recovered files are likely to come up at the Supreme Court on Monday, January 16.

The Sainbari massacre happened in 1970 and the FIR was filed by Dilip Bhattacharjee at Burdwan police station at 12.20 pm on March 17, 1970, reportedly. FIR named 150 leaders and activists of CPI(M) who took out victory rally to celebrate the fall of United Front government and  barged into Sain family house. They hacked to death Sain brothers, Malay and Pranab and their faily private tutor Jiten Roy. After nine months, an enquiry commission under then Justice Tarapada Mukherjee was set up by the new CM Siddhartha Shankar Roy.

The charge sheet (No 22, filed on February 8, 1971) named 56 persons including Binoy Konar (now CPM Central committee member), whose name figures at accused no 11 in the Charge sheet. Names of Sanjit Roy alias Gandhi (noted criminal) , Golam Kabira, Jhantu Nandy, Sushil Dutta , Sani Mohabat, Ashwini Hazra and several others also there in the charge-sheet. The same charge sheet also names 56 'absconders', in which Bhujanga Sen’s son Nirupam Sen’s name figures at no 23. The names of Rajat Bandopadhyay, Amal Haldar, Pabitra Bhattacharya, Kalyan Kanta Mondal, Sudin Chattpopadhyay, Mridul Sen, Suhas Chattopadhyay, Binoy Konar's brother Sushanta Konar, Sishir Chakraborty, Amiya Saha, Brajaraj Mukhopadhya also features among the charge sheeted absconders.  All of them are CPI(M) leaders.

Amal Haldar is presently party’s Burdwan district secretary and a member of the state secretariat. Rajat Bandopadhyay later became the Registrar of Jadavpur University. Sudin Chattopadhyay was Chairman of West Bengal government’s West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Brajaraj Mukhopadhyay, now known as Braja Mukherjee, was Sabhadhipati at Birbhum Zilla Parisad (Chairman, District Panchayat). They were booked under Art 148, 149, 326, 307 (attempt to murder), 346 (loot and ransack), 302 (murder), 380 (ransacking and molestation) of Indian Penal code and most of these are non-bailable.

After Left Front came to power, these accused got mercy and the case was withdrawn allegedly. The first Left Front Government, on September 20, 1977, appealed at Justice Gitesh Ranjan Bhattacharjee’s Court to withdraw the case. But the Court, on September 30, 1977, allowed the Government to withdraw cases against only four accused and refused the withdrawal petition resulted into the transfer of Justice Banerjee to another court. Later, by the order of Third Additional Session Judge of Alipur Court, dismissed the case and CPM rejoiced. Interestingly, the CPM leaders were never given clean chit by the court as they claim.

The issue resurfaced only after Advocate Joydeep Mukherjee filed a case at the Supreme Court alleging that none of the charge-sheetd accused, never procured bail neither were acquitted. He demanded reopening of the case, which is now pending at the Chief Justice’s court. The CPM leaders are using a forged court document to prove that they were acquitted, alleged advocate Mukherjee. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government, on the basis of the then police superintendent of Burdwan, Rajaram Rajshekhran, filed an affidavit in the Apex Court saying that the file of Sainbari Massacre is untraceable and might be damaged.

Advocate Joydeep Mukherjee is happy with the recovery of the file and said, "This proves that the crinimals always leave behind clues. Now I hope the victims would get justice". Meanwhile CM Mamata Banerjee has set up another judicial commission to fix charges against the culprits on 1970. CPI(M) politburo member Nirupam Sen view this as ‘political revenge’. "The Congress was in power in the state between 1972 and 1977. The Siddharta Sankar Roy government set up the Mukherjee Commission and its report was submitted to the government. The report still exists. The issue being raked after 40 years smacks of political revenge", he asserted. But, Swarnalata Josh, the daughter-in-law of Mriganayana Devi, whose two sons and their private tutor were hacked to death in the killings, are optimistic, "We can now hope to see the killers punished in our lifetime", they expressed.