Five mutilated and half-burnt bodies were found on Wednesday buried in a trench in a field at Bidyapith village in the Communist Party of India-Marxist stronghold of Khejuri, adjacent to Nandigram [Images] in West Bengal.

"We had a tip off that five bodies were buried at the spot. We along with a team of Central Reserve Police Force and CBI went there and found the bodies, but cannot dig them out without a magistrate's order," Midnapore (East) Superintendent of Police S S Panda said.

He said the bodies found in the trench in a field covered with bushes were half-burnt and mutilated.

"We are waiting for the magistrate's order and once it comes we will exhume the bodies and send them for post-mortem," Panda said.

The SP was not sure about the identity of the bodies.

"Five people died while making bombs on October 28. These might be the bodies of them or it might be the bodies of those persons killed in disturbances on November 6," Panda said.

"We can say everything once the post-mortem report comes in," Panda said.

A large team of the police and CRPF have cordoned off the area.