were recovered, five others were never seen again. At the time, CPI(M) had been governing West Bengal for several decades. After nine years, when Trinamool Congress came to power, the area where the bodies were suspected to have been buried was dug up and the skeletons were discovered. One of the skeletons was identified by his son based on its shirt, and an FIR was filed against Ghosh. It was strange that the inners discovered on the skeletons were brand new, which is why the case was dismissed, due to lack of merit and evidence. The case came to be known as the Garbeta Skeleton case. Meanwhile, the CPI-M party newspaper, Ganashakti claimed that the charges were politically motivated. Shyamal Acharya, who had filed the FIR, had been arrested in 2009 for storing firearms unlawfully in his house. Ghosh's confidential secretary Debasis Pain and two CPM workers have also been arrested in the case. The police claim that these three persons have said that the murders were planned by Ghosh, and that he was personally present when the bodies were being buried. "The witness, Gobinda Majhi of Godapiashole village in Keshpur, has told us that the five Trinamul supporters were being chased by a large group of CPM activists", the CID officer said. "The five of them rushed into Gobinda's house. But they were dragged out by the CPM activists, hacked and shot in the courtyard of his house." On 3 September, another key accomplice who had gone into hiding, the CPI(M) local committee secretary Shankar Shau, was arrested from Kolkata. Shau, who had been the headmaster of Benachapra Primary School, had been expelled from the party for corruption in 2007, but was re-instated at Ghosh's insistence. Arrest In August 2011, Ghosh was arrested for the murder of seven persons, and spent around six months in jail while several bail applications were turned down by the high court. He managed to obtain bail from the Supreme Court in February 2012 and was given a hero's welcome. However, he was barred from entering Paschim Medinipur for the next decade. On 6 December 2020, he returned to Garhbeta in his home after the Supreme Court lifted the bar on him. References Living people Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal West Bengal MLAs 1987–1991 West Bengal MLAs 1991–1996 West Bengal MLAs 1996–2001 West Bengal MLAs 2001–2006 West Bengal MLAs 2006–2011