Jalpaiguri, Nov 08: Bodies of 19 persons, massacred in Dalgaon tea garden area on Thursday, were buried on the bank of the river Birpara at Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal today. Additional District Magistrate, Srikumar Mondal told mediapersons that the district administration had to conduct the mass burial as the charred bodies could not be identified. However, about 500 villagers were present during the burial. Meanwhile, all the 109 arrested persons including the CITU leader Tarakeswar Lohar and his associate Ashok Gujur were today remanded to jail custody for 14 days by the Sub-Divisioûal Judicial Magistrate, Jalpaiguri. Of the 109 arrested persons, 27 were women. As the situation remained tense, jawans of the Eastern Frontier rifles, Rapid Action Force and district and state armed police continued patrolling the garden which remained closed since the mob violence. Commandos also remained posted in several sensitive areas.The tea garden was expected to reopen from Monday,Mondal said. Enraged tea garden workers hacked and later burnt to death 19 people, including two women, at the house of Lohar following a dispute over recruitment of three outsiders at the tea garden on November 06.
Bureau Report