Life term for 44 CPM men in Suchpur massacre case

The judge who had already convicted the 44 accused on Wednesday under Sections 302 (murder), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly), announced the verdict in a packed courtroom amid unprecedented security.

Among those convicted are Nitya Narayan Chatterjee, former CPM zilla parishad member who led the attackers, and Ramprasad Ghosh, party district committee member.

The judge acquitted 23 others, while five are still absconding and as many died in the course of the trial. According to the prosecution, the victims were brutally hacked and beaten to death at Suchpur in the Nanoor police station area on July 27, 2000.

To challenge verdict

While the CPM district leadership vowed to move the high court to challenge the verdict, the Trinamool hailed the sentence as a vindication of the alleged CPM terror in rural Bengal.
An FIR was lodged at Nanoor police station against 82 CPM men and leaders.

The chargesheet was submitted by the Nanoor police in August 2001 and the trial began in 2002.

A violent clash had broken out between the two parties in a bid to take control of the village on July 27, 2000, in which 11 Trinamool supporters were allegedly hacked to death by the activists of the ruling party.