Kolkata, December 18
The Singur agitation against "land grabbing" took a new turn today following the death of 16-year-old daughter of a farmer, Tapasi Mallick, whose body was found in flames inside the protected site of Tata Motors, which had been under the constant guard of the security staff and the CPM cadres.

Tapasi, a resident of local Bajemelia village, was declared dead before being taken to the local hospital. Yesterday she took part in the mass hunger strike at Singur along with others , which was called by the Kishi Bacchao Committee.

“From the very beginning of the Singur agitation, Tapasi had been actively involved in the movement for protecting the farmers’ lands against the forcible acquisition and transferring it to Tata Motors for which she had been killed,” Trinamool supremo, Ms Mamata Banerjee who was on the 15th day of her fasting, alleged.

She gave a call for 48-hour Bangla Bandh from Thursday as mark of protest against Tapasi's ” killing” and the government's “land grabbing” for Tata Motors.

Some local persons alleged that Tapasi was gang-raped and then burnt alive by a group of drunken CPM workers who were guarding the acquired factory site last night. This morning , local people saw the burning body of Tapasi inside the protected area, barricaded with barbed wires .

Ms Banerjee demanded a CBI probe into Tapasi's death, while the Congress working president, Mr Pradip Bhattacharyya, demanded a judicial inquiry. The Congress will not oppose the bandh, though ideologically, they were against the 48-hour-long Bangla Bandh.

The much-embarrassed Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, described Tapasi's death as an unfortunate incident.

The district CPM unit, however, alleged that Tapasi's death was an isolated incident and it had no connection with the Singur agitation.

Some local CPM leaders alleged that she committed suicide due to her failure in the love with a local boy. But no inflammable materials like kerosene, petrol, matches etc could be found near Tapasi's body nor could they name about the alleged lover for whom she had killed herself.

The police also ruled out that Tapasi committed suicide by burning herself.