Nandigram peaceful, 3 with suspected Maoist links held

Three people with suspected Maoist links were arrested even as the situation remained peaceful in Nandigram on Thursday.

West Bengal Home Secretary P R Roy said in Kolkata that three people from Nandigram, who confessed to having received training from Maoists, were arrested from Sagar Island. Some Maoist literature was also seized from them.

Roy, who had said on Tuesday that no Maoist was arrested in Nandigram, today said the government has evidence of presence of Maoists in the area.

The Home Secretary said three arms and two land mines with detonators were seized by the CRPF from Nandigram.

He said the government has sent a report to the Centre on the situation in Nandigram.

The administration had also submitted a report to Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday.

East Midnapore superintendent of police Satyeshwar Panda said that CRPF personnel were patrolling the Nandigram-Tekhali Bridge and Nandigram-Sonachura areas which had been ravaged by violence.

Ten camps by the CRPF and state police have been set up, he said, adding that 100 more CRPF personnel were yet to arrive.

Asked about the death toll, the Home Secretary said that with the recovery of a decomposed body which was not identified, the toll went up to four.

Roy said 800 people belonging to the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee were still in the camps and hoped that they would be able to return home soon.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi met the injured from Nandigram in a hospital at Kolkata, Raj Bhavan sources said.