Unmarked graves found after Nandigram protests

KOLKATA (Reuters) - Police retrieved burnt human remains from five unmarked graves in a cluster of villages in West Bengal which saw violent protests against the communist state government, raising fears the death toll may be higher than official figures.

The West Bengal government, an ally of the central government, has been roiled by protests over the killing by suspected communist cadres of villagers opposed to the seizure of land for industry.

Government officials said six people had been killed over the last month in protests in Nandigram, bringing the toll to 34 since January. But some witnesses said many more deaths had been concealed.

"Human bodies seem to have been buried in a hurry and the graves need to be dug up to find the truth," said Alok Raj, a senior police officer.

Hundreds of villagers watched from a distance as health workers dug out scorched bones and body parts from five graves beside a road, as dozens of policemen kept watch, officials and witnesses said.

The remains were placed in separate wooden boxes and sealed in the presence of a judge who recorded the proceedings, police said. Tests would try to determine the identity of the deceased.

Communist leaders said the remains belonged to five villagers whose relatives had lacked the money for a proper cremation. But at least one police officer found this explanation suspicious.

"It appears strange that people would bury bodies beside a road and not in a proper cemetery," Raj told Reuters by phone from Nandigram.

The communists lost control of Nandigram earlier this year after trying, unsuccessfully, to force villagers off their land.

Local opposition parties and Maoist rebels then moved in after villagers dug up roads and burned communist party offices.

This month, communist party cadres broke that resistance by forcing their way in and shooting at villagers, locals said. Opposition parties said innocent villagers who fought communist cadres had been killed and their bodies carried away.

This week in a further embarrassment for the communists, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted that Nandigram had been a "political and administrative failure."