While the police said the two were CPM members, Nandigram Panchayat Samity president and CPM’s Nandigram Zonal Committee member Ashok Bera said Durai was a CPI leader.

“Even though he is a CPI leader, we are supporting him because he is a true Leftist,” said Bera.

CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Majumder, however, denied that there was any CPI leader called Badal Durai at Nandigram. “I was talking to our party leadership at East Midnapore even this evening and they did not tell me anything regarding this. I have never heard of any CPI leader called Durai in Nandigram,” Majumder said.

Bera said both him and another CPM leader, Lakshman Seth, who is also the MP of Haldia, were also accused in the murder case. “There is a possibility of the police arresting me, but I am not afraid,” he said. Bera presided over the function at Nandigram College grounds on Tuesday where Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee distributed pattas among the landless villagers of Nandigram.

The police said they will arrest all those involved in criminal cases. “The Chief Minister has told us that we can arrest all those involved in criminal cases.

In fact, our police cleared the blockade within an hour after it started,” said Debashish Chakrabarty, officer-in-charge, Nandigram Police Station.

East Midnapore SP S S Panda, however, denied Bera and Seth’s involvement in the murder case. “I don’t know why Bera is saying this but they (Bera and Seth) were not involved in the case,” he said.