Calcutta, May 8: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police had “purposely detained” polling personnel of 80 Murshidabad booths and voting machines past midnight on May 3 to bargain for “good vehicles”, an inquiry has concluded.

District magistrate N. Manjunatha Prasad has faxed the findings of the probe to the Election Commission.

Because of the ITBP’s refusal to escort the polling pers- onnel to the strongroom in Behrampore, the machines and the officials were stranded at Amtala High School in Nowda past midnight after the fourth round of polling.

The district magistrate’s report says: “From the entire episode, it appears to me that the ITBP had purposely detained the polling parties to bargain for good vehicles from the district administration....”

Deputy election commissioner Anand Kumar said: “If they had held up the polling parties intentionally, as it appears now, it is a grave offence.”

Around midnight last Wednesday, the district magistrate noticed that the polling per- sonnel had not returned from Nowda, only 40 km from the district headquarters.

“Around midnight, I called the ITBP deputy commandant, Kundan Prasad, in Nowda and asked why he wasn’t bri- nging the polling parties back. He said they could not come to Behrampore as their vehicles were not roadworthy. At 12.30, I had to ask my additional SP, Shankar Chakraborty, to bring the stranded officials and EVMs back,” the report says.

The contingent made it to Behrampore around 2.30 am.

Even at 1.24 am, the deputy commandant had told Prasad he was “willing” to escort the polling personnel if provided with “good vehicles for their journey to Jalpaiguri”.

The ITBP unit deployed in Nowda was to move over to north Bengal for the final phase of the polls.

ITBP officers alleged that they weren’t offered roadworthy vehicles but Murshidabad superintendent of police N.K. Singh dismissed the charge, saying an adequate number of roadworthy vehicles had been sent.

Singh added that the ITBP personnel had been demanding “AC vehicles” from the day of their arrival in the district.

“After the Nowda police failed to provide them with the AC Tata Sumos, they even misbehaved with my officers.”