Tamluk, Oct. 9: A Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee supporter’s body was fished out of the Talpatti canal today, leaving Nandigram tense though there was no violence till late in the night.

Lalu Giri, 30, of Simulkunda village, went missing from Ranichak during yesterday’s fierce exchange of fire with CPM supporters.

“Our preliminary probe suggests Lalu was lying injured on the bank and died much later. Last night’s high tide must have swept him into the canal,” a police officer said.

The body got entangled in a fisherman’s net around three this afternoon.

Committee convener Abu Sufian said Lalu was part of a procession that marched from Tekhali to Ranichak yesterday.

The death toll in the fresh wave of violence in Nandigram since Sunday has gone up to three.

Committee supporters surrounded Nandigram police station, where the body was taken this evening.

The committee said a bullet hit Lalu, a father of three, in the chest but there was no confirmation from the police.

East Midnapore superintendent G.A. Srinivas said: “We have deployed about 100 additional policemen along the Nandigram-Khejuri border.”

About 150 policemen were posted in camps at Bhanga-bera, Tekhali, Giribazar and Ranichak until yesterday.

The CPM observed a 12-hour bandh in Khejuri in protest against the death of local committee member Manas Mondal yesterday.

Party leaders trained their guns at the police. “Manas died because of them. Had the police been active, they couldn’t have attacked us at Baharganj,” district secretariat member Ashok Guria said.

The committee alleged that the additional police would help the CPM launch more attacks. “The police were spectators when they attacked us on Sunday,” said Trinamul Congress leader and committee convener Abu Taher.