Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
TMC leader’s murder probe handed to CBI
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the murder of Trinamool Congress panchayat deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh, following which violence broke out in West Bengal’s Birbhum district that killed nine people last month.
Eight people, including two children, were charred to death when 10 houses were set ablaze in Bogtui village on March 21, in a suspected fallout of the murder of Sheikh. One of the four people, who sustained burn injuries died on March 28, taking the toll to nine.
The central agency arrested four people from Mumbai in connection with the Birbhum killings on Thursday. These were the first arrests made by the CBI since it took over the probe after a high court order on March 25. A court remanded them in CBI custody for a week on Friday.
On Thursday, the central agency submitted a preliminary report on their probe into the violence before the division bench comprising chief justice Prakash Shrivastava and justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj. The court, however, reserved its order.
“The Report submitted by the CBI before this court today prima facie suggests that brutal incident of burning and killing at Bogtui village is the direct fall out of the killing of Bhadu Sk son of
Marfat Sk of village Bogtui at 8.30 P.M. on the same day. It also suggests that the incident is the outcome of the rivalry amongst the members of two groups in the village and that burning of the houses resulting in the death of 8 persons was the retaliatory plan,” the bench observed in the order released on Friday.
“Material placed on record prima facie suggests a close relationship and linkage between the two incidents... It is also worth noting if one agency investigates both the incidents then not only it will be easier to unearth the truth but it will also facilitate trial...,” it added.
Bhadu Sheikh’s wife, Tabila Bibi, welcomed the CBI probe order. “The CBI must arrest my husband’s murderers.”
TMC national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said: “I don’t want to comment on the court’s order but the CBI is being repeatedly used by the Centre for political gains in opposition-ruled states although law and order is a state subject. The SC once said the CBI is a caged parrot.”
“The court’s order in the Birbhum incidents proves that it has no faith in the state police,” said Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal unit.
The court also ordered the state police to hand over all papers related to the case to the CBI and the 22 suspects, including TMC block president Anarul Hossain, arrested by them.
Meanwhile, the Rampurhat court on Friday rejected the bail pleas of Hossain and six others. The CBI filed a petition seeking their polygraph test. “I am innocent. I have faith in the judiciary,” Hossain said while being taken to the court.