CBI files 2nd charge sheet in Bengal post-poll violence case, arrests one

CALCUTTA HC SAID RETIRED JUSTICE MANJULA CHELLUR WILL SUPERVISE THE SIT PROBE

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed its second charge sheet in the ongoing probe into post-poll violence in West Bengal and accused four people of murdering a Bharatiya Janata Party worker at Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district on June 6, said lawyers aware of the development. The charge sheet was filed in the Barrackpore court.

CBI also arrested a man in connection with the murder of a BJP worker’s mother in Jagaddal area of North 24 Parganas district. The victim, Shovarani Mondal, 64, was hit on the head by a stick, allegedly by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers who came looking for her son on May 3, a day after the assembly polls results were announced.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta high court on Friday said a parallel probe into offences other than murder and rape will be supervised by former chief justice of Calcutta and Bombay HCS, Justice (retired) Manjula Chellur.

On July 19, the court ordered a CBI probe into alleged murders and rapes and a parallel probe by a special investigation team (SIT) comprising IPS officers posted in Bengal.

CBI’S second charge sheet came within 24 hours of the first one filed in Birbhum district. Commenting on the ongoing probe, TMC Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, said, “The Calcutta high court ordered the probe on the basis of a report given by the National Human Rights Commission. The report was politically biased. CBI is only meeting families of BJP workers. It is not probing the deaths of the 13 TMC workers in violence.”

BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh countered Roy. “What was the state police doing all these months? Why were charge sheets not filed and arrests not made? The TMC leadership is rattled because the CBI is acting tough and fast,” Ghosh said.