DIG-rank CID officer to supervise probe into Lalan Sheikh’s death in CBI custody

The CBI claimed Sheikh died by suicide but his family alleged he was beaten to death during questioning

The Calcutta high court has ordered that a deputy inspector general (DIG)-rank officer of the West Bengal Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will supervise the probe into the death in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of Lalan Sheikh, a prime accused in the killing of 10 people in March in retaliation to the murder of a ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader.

The CBI claimed Sheikh died by suicide but his family alleged he was beaten to death during questioning. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The CBI claimed Sheikh died by suicide but his family alleged he was beaten to death during questioning. Police filed a murder case naming seven CBI officials on the basis of his widow Reshma Bibi’s complaint.

The case was handed over to the CID two days later. The CBI moved the high court, which ordered no coercive steps should be taken against the officials.

Bibi told a single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta that she does not know who drafted the complaint. A lawyer present in the court said she told the court somebody wrote it for her. “She could not write as she was crying and her hands were trembling.”

The CID told the bench she was “mentally disturbed” after her husband’s death when the bench questioned why it was yet to record Bibi’s statement.

The CBI has sought the transfer of the case to the National Human Rights Commission’s director general or to the agency. The court directed all parties including Bibi and the CID to file affidavits and posted the matter for hearing next on January 5.

Ten people were burnt alive at Bogtui on March 21 in retaliation to the murder of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh. The Calcutta high court on March 25 ordered a CBI probe into the massacre. On December 12, Lalan Sheikh, the prime accused in the massacre, was found hanging in CBI custody.

(With PTI Inputs)