Ranchi, July 13: The Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) ? not to be confused with the Maoist Communist Centre ? appears rattled at attempts by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to implicate former MCC MLA Arup Chatterjee, in the murder of late Forward Bloc leader Sushanta Sengupta in 2002.

An MCC delegation recently called on the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to complain the central agency was going out of its way to link Chatterjee to the murder.

Chatterjee?s name does not figure in the FIR, admitted CBI sources. But they suggested uncomfortable details have surfaced to indicate Chatterjee knew about the murder conspiracy.

Some of the former associates of Chatterjee have been arrested in the case. Chatterjee?s brother-in-law Apurva Ghosh and close confidantes, Haldhar Mahto, Thakur Manjhi and Prashanta Banerjee are already behind bars while Santosh Mishra has been absconding. The CBI in fact obtained a non-bailable arrest warrant against him four months ago.

Ironically, while the slain leader was wanted in as many as 23 criminal cases, including murder, rape and extortion, none of the men close to Chatterjee and who are wanted by the CBI has a criminal past.

The agency officials acknowledge that many of them are highly educated with Santosh Mishra holding a degree in law and mass communication.

The CBI claimed, however, one of the criminals apprehended for shooting Sengupta has not only confessed to the crime but has also claimed he did so at the behest of Chatterjee?s associates.

The man, one Khurshid, who ostensibly hired Md Tabrej alias Tabbu, the sharp-shooter, was again associated with Chatterjee?s father, Gurudas Chatterjee, a former MLA, who was gunned down in 2000, two years before Sengupta.