Suhrid Dutta

Calcutta, July 3: Suhrid Dutta has blamed “others” opposed to the Tata small-car project for the murder of Tapasi Malik, changing tack from yesterday when he pointed fingers at party colleagues, the CBI claimed today.

The 55-year-old secretary of the CPM’s Singur zonal committee was put on polygraph tests in phases through the morning.

Insiders claimed Suhrid was grilled about his association with Debu Malik and on the calls he had made between December 17 and 18, when Tapasi was allegedly raped and set on fire on the Tata Motors plot in Bajemelia.

“We have taken the SIM card of Suhrid’s mobile phone and have collected the details of calls made within 48 hours of the incident. We wanted information on a few numbers but he would not tell us,” a senior CBI official said.

An insider claimed that during interrogation, Suhrid tried to implicate one of the prominent leaders associated with the Save Farmland Committee in Singur. He said the murder was carried out to tarnish the image of the CPM in Singur.

“That is why Tapasi’s body was dumped at the Tata Motors site in Singur and not in any other place,” a source quoted Suhrid as telling the sleuths.

The CBI officers have decided to fly back with both Suhrid and Debu to Calcutta before interrogating them separately.

Debu will be in CBI custody till July 7 and Suhrid till July 12.

The agency is yet to learn about four youths who along with Debu Malik had allegedly raped and murdered Tapasi.

The CBI also interrogated Debu and found out about the spots where the 45-year-old claimed to have left behind some of the items he used on the day of Tapasi’s murder, including the trousers that he had worn.

“All these claims need to be verified and if required, we might visit Singur again. But we are not in a hurry to send notices to anyone in Singur right now. Our aim is to ferret out more informa-tion from the two,” an officer said.