Kolkata: Thirty years after 17 Ananda
Margis were burnt to death in the city, the West Bengal
government on Wednesday formed an inquiry commission to probe the
massacre.
The killings took place on a flyover "Bijon Setu" in
the southern part of the city on April 30, 1982 during the
second term of the Left Front government, which had attracted
widespread condemnation at that time.
The state`s law minister, Moloy Ghatak, said that
Justice (retd) Santosh Kumar Faujdar would head the one-man
commission of inquiry and it had been asked to submit its
report within six months.
On the fateful day, 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda
Marga Pracharaka Samity were dragged out of their vehicles,
beaten up mercilessly and then set on fire in full public view
on the Bijon Setu.
None was arrested and no fruitful probes were
conducted into the dreadful incident.
Officials said the National Human Rights Commission
had taken up the investigation into the case in 1996, but it
could not make much headway due to alleged non-cooperation by
the previous state government.
The law minister said that the chief minister had
given her consent to the inquiry commission.
Ghatak said another inquiry commission to probe
corrupt practices, nepotism, and irregularities in the
distribution of plots and flats at Rajarhat, which was earlier
headed by justice (retd) Ranjit Kumar Mishra, but who later
resigned, would now be led by justice (retd) Ramendra Narayan
Roy.
Justice (retd) Mishra had recused himself on the
ground that he himself had got a plot of land at Rajarhat
allotted from the HIDCO chairman`s quota.
This inquiry commission has also been asked to submit
its report within six months.
PTI
