Ordered by the Calcutta high court to probe allegations of post-poll killings and other serious crimes in Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday started its work by recording the statements of some affected families in Kolkata and the districts.
CBI officers in Kolkata said nine cases were registered but refused to divulge details. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been asked to provide security to members of the four CBI teams visiting Bengal, an officer of the CBI anti-crime branch said on condition of anonymity.
Each of these seven-member teams -- which comprise deputy inspector generals and superintendents from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and other states – is being headed by a joint director. All officers were asked to arrive in Bengal by Thursday evening. The teams are being accompanied by forensic experts and officers of inspector rank.
One of the teams visited the home of Abhijit Sarkar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker who was murdered by a mob in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area on May 2 and inspected the scene of the crime. The Kolkata Police has so far arrested seven people in this case.
The CBI officers talked to members of the family, including Biswajit Sarkar, the elder brother of the victim who had filed petitions before the Supreme Court and the Calcutta high court.
{{/usCountry}}The CBI officers talked to members of the family, including Biswajit Sarkar, the elder brother of the victim who had filed petitions before the Supreme Court and the Calcutta high court.
{{/usCountry}}Abhijit Sarkar was allegedly strangled to death with a television cable soon after the poll results were announced. He was the only BJP worker who died in the state capital. The rest of the alleged killings took place in the districts.
A second CBI team visited the home of Jaiprakash Yadav, a BJP worker who died in a bomb attack by motorcycle-borne assailants at Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district on June 6.
Arjun Singh, the BJP Lok Sabha member from the local Barrackpore seat, alleged that Yadav was murdered because he worked hard to ensure the victory of Singh’s son, Pawan, at the Bhatpara assembly seat in the recent polls.
CBI officers said on condition of anonymity that first information reports (FIR) were registered in Purulia, Nadia and Bankura districts as well.
None of the members of the CBI teams were ready to talk to the media.
On June 18, the Calcutta high court asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to probe the allegations of murders, rapes, extortion and arson that were raised from across the state after the March-April state polls in which the BJP won 77 seats against 213 bagged by the TMC. The BJP has alleged that 36 of its workers have been killed since May 2.
After studying the final report the NHRC filed on July 13, the high court, on August 19, ordered a CBI probe into allegations of major crimes and a parallel probe into the other offences by a three-member special investigation team (SIT) comprising IPS officers posted in Bengal. The state government told the court that the NHRC report was biased and prepared with a political motive.