Congress Nandigram candidate Milan Pradhan sent to judicial custody till October 5 in 2007 case

A court in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district on Monday remanded Congress candidate Milan Pradhan to judicial custody till October 5 in connection with a case dating back to the 2007 Nandigram land agitation, effectively preventing him from personally campaigning for the October 6 Nandigram Assembly bypoll.

The Contai court passed the order in a case registered at Khejuri police station nearly two decades ago. Pradhan’s counsel Ayan Bhattacharjee said the order would be challenged before the Calcutta High Court.

The latest order comes after the Haldia Sub-Divisional Court sent Pradhan to judicial custody following his arrest last week in connection with other pending cases linked to the 2007 agitation.

With campaigning for the Nandigram bypoll scheduled to end on October 4, the Contai court’s order means Pradhan is set to remain in custody throughout the remaining campaign period unless he secures relief from a higher court.

Cases date to 2007

The cases against Pradhan arise from the violent anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram and neighbouring areas in 2007.

According to police, the cases include allegations of murder, attempt to murder, abduction with intent to murder, causing disappearance of evidence, house trespass, rioting with arms and offences under the Arms Act.

Police have said Pradhan was arrested on the basis of long-pending non-bailable warrants and had been shown as absconding in the cases. The allegations against him remain subject to judicial proceedings.

The cases registered at Nandigram police station date from between April and November 2007, while the Khejuri police station case was lodged in July that year.

Campaign hit by custody

The successive court orders have complicated the Congress campaign in a politically significant constituency where Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in this year’s Assembly election.

Adhikari subsequently vacated Nandigram after opting to retain Bhabanipur, triggering the October 6 bypoll.

The Haldia court’s earlier custody order had already severely restricted Pradhan’s ability to campaign. Monday’s order extending his incarceration until October 5 leaves him with virtually no opportunity to canvass personally before polling.

The Congress, however, said its campaign would continue in his absence, with state party leaders and members of Pradhan’s family taking part.

Congress alleges ‘conspiracy’

The timing of Pradhan’s arrest has triggered a political row because he was taken into custody shortly after Banerjee announced that her faction of the Trinamool Congress would support the Congress nominee in Nandigram.

Banerjee’s faction extended support to Pradhan after its candidate, Sanchita Pradhan De, withdrew from the contest.

The Congress has questioned why warrants dating back years were executed only after Pradhan entered the electoral contest, pointing out that he had completed the nomination and scrutiny process before his arrest.

“The conspiracy was afoot right from the beginning to keep our candidate out of the campaign fray. To that extent, the ruling party has succeeded,” state Congress general secretary Ashutosh Chatterjee alleged.

He said Pradesh Congress Committee president Shubhankar Sarkar and other party leaders would continue campaigning alongside Pradhan’s family.

“We will leave the verdict to the people who can surely see through what’s happening in Nandigram,” Chatterjee said.

Police have maintained that the arrest was carried out on the basis of pending warrants in criminal cases.

Moves Calcutta HC

Pradhan has meanwhile approached the Calcutta High Court seeking protection from coercive action in five additional cases.

His lawyer told the High Court on Monday that Pradhan was already in custody in cases in which no relief was being sought at this stage, but feared arrest in five other cases that he had disclosed in his election affidavit.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya permitted the petition to be filed and listed the matter for hearing on Tuesday.

The legal proceedings have now become a major issue in the Nandigram campaign, which was already witnessing an unusual political alignment after Banerjee’s faction decided to support the Congress nominee.

With Pradhan likely to remain behind bars through the remainder of the campaign unless he obtains judicial relief, the Congress will have to contest the final phase of the bypoll campaign without its candidate on the ground.