Flags of protest flutter at the tea estate

Jalpaiguri, May 11: A 19-month wait for DNA results to nail the accused in the Dalgaon massacre is proving costly.

Of the 113 charged with direct involvement in the November 6, 2003, incident ? 19 people were charred to death when a mob set ablaze the house of Tarakeshwar Lohar in Dalgaon tea estate ? 103 are out on bail and five are absconding.

People claiming to be family members of the victims have not received redress either.

“We had filed a chargesheet against the people involved in the crime, but most have been granted bail because of the lack of evidence,” said Rahul Srivastav, the Jalpaiguri superintendent of police. “How can we accuse someone of murder if we cannot identify the victims?”

The carnage was triggered by outrage over the recruitment of three outsiders to clerical posts, in which Lohar, a former Citu leader, allegedly made money.

Lohar was not at home when the incident occurred. He was later arrested, charged with attempted murder and possession of arms.

Of the 19 victims, the police were successful in identifying only one person. The rest of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. Lohar later gave the law enforcers a list of the names of 25 people who were in the house when it was set on fire, leaving them to bank on DNA tests to identify the victims.

Blood and tissue samples taken from the parents and relatives of those mentioned in the list were also sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory in Calcutta.

“We had planned to file a comprehensive chargesheet, specifying the names of the dead, a narration of the incident and motive of the 113 after receiving the results of the DNA tests. Our case is getting weaker by the day because we cannot produce any evidence,” Srivastav said.

He was, however, quick to add that the delay could have been caused due to “technical reasons”.