Calcutta, March 13: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today announced in the Assembly that the inquiry commission probing the deaths of five Forward Bloc supporters in Cooch Behar’s Dinhata on February 5 would start functioning from Monday.

The commission will examine whether the police firing was justified and the background, course and nature of incidents that took place on the day. It will also study the circumstances leading to six deaths, including that of a National Volunteer Force worker who had succumbed to injuries the next day. The panel is being headed by Justice Narayan Chandra Sil, a former judge of Calcutta High Court, and will complete the probe in six months.

Bhattacharjee, who is in charge of home (police) affairs, was replying to an attention motion, tabled by six Bloc legislators in the House. According to him, preliminary investigation has revealed that CRPF jawans had not opened fire. However, Bloc legislators today stuck to their earlier stand that the firing by the CRPF was without provocation.

Bhattacharjee alleged that Bloc supporters had forcefully broken down the police cordon and ransacked the subdivisional office and the office of the additional chief judicial magistrate, located in the same campus.

They also damaged government property and set a police vehicle on fire. “Police lathicharged and lobbed tear gas shells first and ultimately resorted to firing to disperse the mob,” he added.

Bloc legislators, however, refused to buy the chief minister’s argument.