Delhi’s Tihar jail in January reveals that he was “not only aware of but also a part” of the Salboni mine blast plan — considered a failed attempt made by the Naxals to assassinate West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in November 2008.

According to the three-page interrogation report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Ghandy, who was arrested in Delhi in September 2009, held his last coordination committee meeting at Mal in Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal in mid-2007 where the Maoist leadership decided to carry out an attack on the chief minister’s convoy.

The CID team had interrogated Ghandy on January 17.

During the meeting, Ghandy had suggested that the attack on the CM’s convoy had to be triggered in one of the three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia that have large tribal populations and where Maoists have strong bases.

Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji was given the responsibility to work out the minute details of the plan, says the CID report.

Ghandy told his associates that the basic intention behind the attack (on the CM’s convoy) was to instigate the police into committing “excesses” on tribals.

This would consolidate tribal unity and have their wrath cemented against the police and civil administration, the report said, adding that the bigger goal for Ghandy and his associates was to expand the Maoist base in the three districts that fall in the Jangalmahal area.

The script in Lalgarh uprising did follow such a course after the Salboni attack — the People’s Committee

Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) came into existence after police tortured villagers while looking for culprits of Salboni blast.

Eventually, the tribals began a boycott of the police and the civil administration, the report pointed out.

The strategy was adopted, Ghandy told the CID, after the Maoist central committee decided to expand its base in at least five states after they had been pushed to the brink by the Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh.

Ghandy admitted to having visited Kolkata and the districts of West

Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia several times to hold meetings with the Maoists leaders.

Ghandy also sought advice from Sushil Roy, senior founder of Maoists presently in Nadia jail, on the means and methods to tighten the grip on Bengal.

A senior police officer, who interrogated Sushil Roy after arresting him in West Midnapore in 2006, said: “During interrogation, Roy had taken the name of Kobad Ghandy as his most senior associate who visited the state several times to prepare the ground for Maoists in Bengal.”

Director General of West Bengal Police Bhupinder Singh, meanwhile, confirmed that the state police have initiated the process of getting the custody of Ghandy.

“We are trying to get his custody so that the leads provided by him during the (CID) interrogation could be followed up further.”

He added, “For investigation, Ghandy will be brought to the city soon.”