Kolkata. A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the Rampurhat massacre in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where ten people, including six women and two children, were burnt alive after a Trinamool gram panchayat leader was killed.
The court, in its order, said the inquiry has been ordered in the “interest of justice”, “fair investigation” and “instilling confidence in the society”. The state government will not conduct any further investigation in the matter and the CBI will have to submit a progress report before the court on April 7.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj said, “We are of the opinion that the facts and circumstances of the case demand that an inquiry be conducted in the interest of justice and to instil confidence in the society and to ascertain the truth for impartial investigation.” It is necessary to hand over the matter to the CBI. Accordingly, we direct the state government to hand over the investigation of the case to the CBI.”
Earlier, the state government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising Additional Director General of Crime Investigation Department (ADG CID) Gyanwant Singh. In this, Inspector General (IG) Burdwan Zone B. Ale. Meena and Meeraj Khalid, Deputy Inspector General (DIG CID, Operations) were also involved.
The court said, “Not only the papers of the case but also the accused and suspects arrested and detained in the case will be handed over to the CBI. Therefore, we direct the CBI to immediately take up the investigation of the case,” the court said. and submit the progress report before us on the next date of hearing.”
According to the judges, the incident has “shocked the conscience of the society” and has “a nationwide impact”.
Ten people, including two children, were killed in a fire at Bogtui in Birbhum’s Rampurhat block in the early hours of Tuesday over the murder of Trinamool Congress (TMC) deputy panchayat pradhan Bhadu Sheikh. The SIT has so far arrested 22 people, including TMC’s Rampurhat I Block President Anarul Hussain.
Welcoming the court’s order, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “Grateful to Calcutta HC for ordering a CBI inquiry into the Rampurhat murder case. Mamata Banerjee’s administration and the SIT set up by the West Bengal government expressed no confidence.” It seemed like a means to hide the crime and protect the TMC leaders involved in the heinous killings.”
—AnyTV News
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