NEW DELHI: A large number of women were victims of violence in Nandigram and the number of dead could be more than the official figure of 15, according to a report by a National Democratic Alliance team that visited the area.

Led by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani the team has reported that several women were gangraped by policemen and more than 50 per cent of the injured in the two hospitals it visited were women.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who was a member of the delegation, said on Monday; "We heard unbelievable stories of police brutality ... children picked up as they returned from school, killed and thrown into a nearby water body, people prevented from claiming their dead, and everyone was talking about missing persons ... the list of dead could be much longer than the police would have us believe."

The team members wanted to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday, which was not allowed by the chair, to give the House an account of what they saw, she said.

Ms. Swaraj further added that it was "shameful" that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were silent on the issue.

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