Calcutta, May 21: The CID has asked former Bengal director-general of police A.B. Vohra to appear for questioning over allegations that he had ordered the removal of two police outposts a few days before the CPM’s armed recapture of Nandigram in 2007.

Vohra, who retired in 2009, now lives in Punjab.

The office of CID director-general (crime) V.V. Thambi has sent a letter to Vohra, asking him to come to the CID headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan this month.

“We have asked him to inform us when he can come. We will ask some questions related to the withdrawal of the police outposts at Tekhali bridge in Nandigram in November 2007. We will record his statements,” a CID officer said.

Another officer said: “We need to know what prompted the police to take the decision of withdrawing the outposts from the disturbed zone.”

In its report, the CID had mentioned that then East Midnapore police chief Satya Shankar Panda had said during interrogation that he removed the outposts on instructions from Vohra and then DIG (Midnapore range) N.R. Babu.

Nine Trinamul supporters went missing after the recapture. The CID had said in its chargesheet that they were murdered. The wives of six missing persons filed a habeas corpus petition last year before a division bench of Calcutta High Court saying their husbands be presented dead or alive. The court then asked the CID to investigate the matter.

On May 18, the CID submitted Panda’s statements to the division bench when it was hearing the bail plea of CPM leader Lakshman Seth, one of the accused in the case.