Tamluk, Feb. 10: Around 300 people named in various cases connected to the 2007 Nandigram agitation have applied for bail in the past four days as police have stepped up an Election Commission-ordered drive to execute pending warrants.

The Haldia subdivisional court has already granted bail to 200 of them in cases of arson, looting, assault and damaging of public and private property. They got bail after they surrendered in the Haldia court.

Those charged with grievous crimes such as murder and rape have approached Calcutta High Court after the lower court refused them the relief.

A senior police officer said FIRs had been filed against 2,325 people in cases related to the anti-land acquisition agitation. “All the accused are leaders or supporters of either the CPM or the Trinamul,” he said. Of the accused, 920 got bail after they either surrendered or were arrested.

Over the past week, the police have intensified the drive to arrest the remaining 1,405 people, all of whom have non-bailable warrants pending against them. If a non-bailable warrant is issued against a person, only a court, not the police, has the power to grant bail.

Of the 1,405 people, 500 face charges of murder or rape while the remaining 905 are accused in lesser crimes. Many of the bail seekers are accused in more than one case.

Two persons in Nandigram have been arrested since Monday. Of the 100 who applied for bail in the Haldia court today was Swapan Bera, a member of the CPM’s Nandigram zonal committee. The police had raided Bera’s house last night but he was not at home.

Bera has 27 cases pending against him, including two of murder. “I was today granted bail in three cases of arson and ransacking,” he said. Many of the 300 who have either applied for or got bail have, like Bera, charges of murder and rape against them. However, they have applied for bail in only cases related to less serious crimes.

The CPM leader said he had got bail in 17 cases. He said all charges against him were “politically motivated and cooked up by Trinamul”.

Trinamul leader Abu Taher has also got bail from the Haldia court. He has 71 cases against him, including eight of murder.