The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed its second chargesheet in the ongoing probe into post-poll violence in Bengal and accused four people of murdering a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker at Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas on June 6, said lawyers aware of the development. The chargesheet was filed at the Barrackpore court.
The CBI also arrested a man in connection with the murder of a BJP worker’s mother in the Jagaddal area of the same 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.
In a parallel development, the Calcutta high court on Friday said the probe into offences other than murder and rape will be supervised by retired Justice Manjula Chellur, former Chief Justice of the Calcutta and Bombay high courts.
On July 19, the court ordered the CBI probe into alleged murders and rapes and a parallel probe by a special investigation team (SIT) comprising IPS officers posted in Bengal. On Thursday, the state government named 10 officers for the SIT.
The CBI’s second chargesheet came within 24 hours of the first one filed at Rampurhat court in Birbhum district.
{{/usCountry}}The CBI’s second chargesheet came within 24 hours of the first one filed at Rampurhat court in Birbhum district.
{{/usCountry}}The victim at Bhatpara, Jaiprakash Yadav, died in a bomb attack by motorcycle-borne assailants. One of the four CBI teams touring the state visited Yadav’s home thrice since August 26 and recorded statements given by members of his family and the neighbours.
On August 27, CBI officers asked Yadav’s family to identify the victim’s blood-soaked clothes which were kept in the custody of Bhatpara police station. “This was done because Yadav’s face was mutilated beyond recognition. The bomb hit him on the head,” a CBI officer stationed in Kolkata said on condition of anonymity.
Arjun Singh, the BJP Lok Sabha member from the local Barrackpore seat, has 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.
A CBI team on Friday talked to the family of BJP worker Debabrata Maity at Nandigram in East Midnapore district. Maity was attacked, allegedly by TMC workers on May 3. He died at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on May 13. The CBI lodged a case in this connection on August 31.
The TMC on Friday commented for the first time on the ongoing probe and called it “politically driven”.
“The Calcutta high court ordered the probe on the basis of a report given by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The report was politically biased. The CBI is only meeting families of BJP workers. It is not probing the deaths of the 13 TMC workers killed in violence,” said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, a Rajya Sabha member.
“The CBI and Enforcement Directorate are being used to target TMC leaders and ministers. They have not only targeted TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee but his wife as well,” said Roy, referring to the summons sent by ED to the chief minister’s nephew and his wife in the coal smuggling case.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh countered Roy. “What was the state police doing all these months? Why were chargesheets not filed and arrests not made? The TMC leadership is rattled because the CBI is acting tough and fast.”
On June 21, the five-judge bench of acting chief justice Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar dismissed the state’s petition seeking recall of its June 18 order that asked the NHRC to probe the allegations of violence. Dismissing the plea for recall, Justice Bindal observed that the conduct of the state did not inspire the confidence of the court.
In its report, the NHRC panel slammed the state government saying the violence “shows a pernicious politico-bureaucratic-criminal nexus”. It recommended a CBI probe and said trials should be conducted outside Bengal.
The NHRC report said at least 1,934 police complaints were lodged between May 2 and June 20. These included 29 murder charges, 12 complaints relating to rape and sexual assault and 940 complaints of loot and arson. The report said that out of the 9,304 people named as accused, less than 3% are currently in jail.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee dismissed the NHRC report, calling it distorted.
The Calcutta high court on July 19 ordered a CBI probe into all allegations of post-poll murder and rape and asked the agency to file its report in six weeks.
The CBI has so far registered more than 30 cases in the districts and one murder case in Kolkata.
The CBI has formed four teams for the probe. Each team comprises deputy inspector generals and superintendents from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and other states. Every team is headed by a joint director. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is providing security for the officers.