Maoists strip factory to fund Nandigram fight

KOLKATA, March. 3: In order to purchase firearms to fight against armed CPI-M cadres in Nandigram, the CPI (Maoist) had raised funds after selling old machines and scraps stolen from an abandoned factory owned by Burn Standard Company Limited near Nandigram last year, according to a report prepared by the state police.
Mr Debashis Chakraborty, officer-in-charge of Nandigram police station, said: “Reports suggest that the Maoists raised as much as Rs 45 lakh after stripping the Jellingham factory and later selling the scraps in the open market. The factory was abandoned in 1990. They also felled 70,800 trees across Nandigram and sold the timber to merchants to raise funds.” The police are looking for 14 persons for helping the Maoists set up camps to smuggle iron scraps and timber out of Nandigram and selling them to traders in Kolkata and the districts. Ships and vessels were used to ferry the machines and scraps to Kakdwip. South 24-Parganas police had arrested three Nandigram residents in Kakdwip a few months ago after they were caught with a large quantity of iron scraps stolen from the Jellingham factory. “The stolen objects are worth Rs 56 lakh,” Mr Chakraborty said.
“While some of the money was spent on acquiring firearms and explosives to fight CPI-M cadres in Nandigram, the rest was sent to other districts and states where the CPI (Maoist) is active,” another senior police officer said.
Himadri Sen Roy alias Somen, secretary of the CPI (Maoist) West Bengal State Committee, who was arrested last month by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths, confirmed the presence of Maoists in Nandigram when it was under the control of BUPC. Jawans belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) recovered explosives, mines, and firearms from various places in Nandigram in December last year. Mr Alok Raj, deputy inspector general of the CRPF also believed that Maoists had been present in Nandigram during the year-long violence.