Skeleton case: Sushanta chargesheeted

Midnapore: The CID on Friday submitted the chargesheet against former CPM minister Sushanta Ghosh and 57 others - including several key CPM's West Midnapore functionaries and CPM's state peasant wing secretary Tarun Roy - accusing them of murdering seven Trinamool Congress activists on September 22, 2002 and burying their bodies.
Among those chargesheeted, only 16, including Ghosh, have been arrested, while the remaining 42 are on the run.The CID has also appealed to the Midnapore court to issue arrest warrants against those absconding. On the absconder list, intriguingly, figures the name of Biswanath Ghosh, a CPM-turned-Trinamool supporter.
The chargesheet(excerpts from which have already been published in TOI)
, though 42 pages long, has annexures running into 2,500 pages. It had to be brought in a trunk to be deposited in the court. CID's investigating officer, deputy SP Purnashib Mukherjee, said: "The chargesheet is being filed on the 88th day since the first arrest took place in this connection. We are well within the 90-day mandate. A few other forensic test results are still awaited, this will figure into the supplementary chargesheets to be filed later."
Earlier, Mukherjee also handed a copy of the chargesheet to Shyamal Acharya - whose father Ajoy was among the seven victims. Acharya said: "I have complete faith that justice will be served. I want exemplary punishment of those accused and believe the CID will step up efforts to arrest those on the run."
The chargesheet weighs primarily on the judicial confessions made by two key witnesses - Madan Santra, Baidyanath Santra and Shibram Singh - and statements made to CID by Arup Ghosh, Ram Swami, Gobindo Majhi and Ajit Das. CID has already appealed to the local court for permission to turn Madan and Baidhyanath into state approvers. Around 113 people have been cited as witnesses. Among those who'd confessed of their role to police, Arup Ghosh and Ram Swami were present that night along with the victims, but survived miraculously. Incidentally, Ajit Das, who has confessed that he had dug up the pits to bury the bodies, later tried to commit suicide citing "political pressure" - a reference of which has also been made in the chargesheet. Mukherjee said: "The investigations will continue. This is only a step in that direction."
Reacting to the chargesheet filed under various sections of rioting, murder, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy, the former minister's counsel Biswanath Ghosh said: "I have not got a copy of the chargesheet yet. I will be able to comment only after reading it. From what I have heard that Sushanta Ghosh has been booked both for murdering and hatching a conspiracy to murder at the same time. Is this possible?"
The incident, however, has already become a political slug-fest between the CPM and ruling Trinamool. CPM has held it to be an act of "political vendetta" with chief minister Mamata Banerjee reacting that this is only a tip of the iceberg, considering the huge number of skeletons and abandoned arms were seized state-wide. Ghosh has already made a fresh appeal for bail which will come up for hearing in the Calcutta high court on Monday.