Used bullets found near ‘graveyard’

Nandigram/Calcutta, Dec. 11: The CRPF today found spent .315-calibre cartridges and torn cardboard boxes marked “Pune” in Parulbari village a day after two suspected graves were spotted there.
Assistant commandant A.K. Upadhyay said 23 “rimmed cartridges” were found during a raid in the area and were handed over to police for investigation.
The boxes suggest that the cartridges were manufactured at the Kirkee ordnance factory in Pune. But neither the police nor the paramilitary uses .315-calibre cartridges, a police officer said.
Those with licensed .315 rifles can buy the bullets from authorised gun shops and ordnance factory outlets.
Parulbari is on the fringes of Maheshpur, which had witnessed heavy gun battles between CPM and Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee activists from October 28 to November 6.
The CPM took control of Jambari village, a kilometre from where the cartridges were found, on November 6. The next day, the cadres recaptured Parulbari and Maheshpur.
“It appears that either the Pratirodh Committee or the CPM or both had these bullets. The police never opened fire in this area,” an officer said.
Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said the CID would dig up the graves found yesterday in the presence of an executive magistrate. He had an hour-long meeting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and chief secretary A.K. Deb on Nandigram.
Many villagers whose family members have gone missing during the land war came to Parulbari today, hoping to find their bodies.
Among them were Dilip Maity and Sukdeb Singha, who had cycled nearly 20km from Southkhali village.
Sukdeb’s elder brother Balaram, 28, and Dilip’s elder brother Bhagirath, 30, went missing from the Pratirodh Committee rally that was fired at on November 10.
“We started to run for our lives when the CPM cadres started firing. I didn’t see Bhagirath after that,” said Dilip.