Suvendu Adhikari releases July 21 probe report, questions why Mamata Banerjee never testified before inquiry panel

The report was presented on the eve of July 21, a politically significant date in West Bengal that commemorates the police firing in which 13 Youth Congress activists were killed during a demonstration in Kolkata in 1993.

Adhikari questions Mamata's absence before panel

While tabling the report, Adhikari said the commission had not recorded Mamata Banerjee's testimony despite her long-standing claim of being the primary witness to the firing.

"The former Chief Minister has always claimed to be the prime witness in the July 21 firing, but she was not asked to give her statement," Adhikari said in the Assembly.

The Chief Minister also referred to findings in the commission's report, alleging that the Trinamool Congress government did not provide several documents sought by the inquiry.

"The commission has said the state government must explain why it failed to provide the documents. The CPIM was not in power, Trinamool Congress was. They neglected the inquiry report," he said.

Adhikari further alleged that the records were withheld because they could have implicated former Home Secretary Manish Gupta, who later joined the Trinamool Congress.

"The Trinamool government did not give the documents because her power minister (former state home secretary Manish Gupta, during whose tenure the incident happened) would have been named," he added.

Commission questioned police action

Adhikari said the commission found no justification for the police firing on the protesting Congress workers and rejected claims that there was an imminent threat to Writers' Buildings.

According to him, the inquiry report also pointed out discrepancies in reports submitted by the then Kolkata Police Commissioner Tushar Talukdar and other senior police officers.

"The reports submitted by the then commissioner of police Tushar Talukdar and other officers have discrepancies," the Chief Minister said.

Govt open to fresh FIRs, compensation

The Chief Minister said families of those killed or injured in the 1993 firing would be allowed to file fresh First Information Reports (FIRs) if they want.

He also referred to the commission's recommendation that families of those killed should receive compensation of Rs 25 lakh and injured persons Rs 5 lakh.

"The commission had recommended compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the kin of those killed and Rs 5 lakh to the injured. You (Trinamool MLAs from the Mamata Banerjee faction) gave only Rs 2 lakh to the dead and Rs 15,000 to the injured. Shameful!" Adhikari said.

He added that the present government would provide compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund if the affected families sought assistance.

Background of the inquiry

Soon after assuming office in 2011, Mamata Banerjee constituted the Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission to investigate the July 21, 1993, firing, which occurred when the Left Front government led by the late Jyoti Basu was in power, and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee held the Home portfolio.

Justice Susanta Chatterjee, a former judge of the Calcutta High Court and Orissa High Court, had described the 1993 police firing as being worse than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

In observations made in 2014, Justice Chatterjee said, "It is definite that the police had opened fire. The top brass cannot deny that they were aware of the firing as the top police brass was in constant touch with persons in the home department."

Justice Chatterjee passed away two years ago.

Witnesses recall inquiry proceedings

Former Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra, who recently joined the rival faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, was among those who testified before the commission.

"I was asked to depose before the commission. Till today I did not know what happened to the commission's report," Mitra said.

At the time of the 1993 incident, Mitra was a Youth Congress leader working under Mamata Banerjee's leadership.

Former Home Secretary Manish Gupta, who later won the Jadavpur Assembly seat on a Trinamool Congress ticket in 2011 by defeating Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and subsequently served as a Rajya Sabha MP, announced last week that he was severing all ties with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.

Meanwhile, both factions of the Trinamool Congress are scheduled to hold separate programmes on Tuesday to commemorate the July 21 police firing, marking 33 years since the incident.