CBI likely to divide post-poll violence probe into four zones in Bengal

The Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered separate probes by the CBI and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police into the alleged violence. A five-judge bench headed by acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal said the CBI will probe the serious allegations of rape and murder and a three-member SIT those of arson and loot under the court’s supervision.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which has been mandated by the Calcutta high court to probe the allegations of post-poll murder and rape in West Bengal, is likely to divide the state into four zones based on some of the districts from where the maximum complaints were received.

The BJP has already released the names of 42 party workers, who were allegedly killed in post-poll violence in Bengal. The TMC has brushed aside such allegations and has maintained that there has hardly been any post poll incident after May 5, when Mamata Banerjee took charge as CM. (ANI PHOTO.)

The top five districts, from where the seven-member enquiry committee set up by the National Human Rights Commission received the maximum number of complaints were Cooch Behar, Birbhum, Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and East Burdwan and South 24 Parganas. From Cooch Behar and Birbhum, more than 300 complaints each were received.

“Four special teams, each headed by a joint director, are likely to take up the investigations in each zone. For each allegation of rape and murder a separate FIR would be lodged instead of clubbing them into one complaint,” said an official, adding that the teams are likely to arrive next week.

The four zones are north, south, west and Kolkata. The NHRC team had received at least 172 complaints from Kolkata. While Birbhum and East Burdwan, located in the western part of the state, received 314 and 113 complaints respectively, Cooch Behar in north Bengal topped the list with 322 complaints. North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas in south Bengal received 196 and 203 complaints.

While speculations are rife that the West Bengal government may appeal before the Supreme Court against the high court order of a CBI probe, two caveats have already been filed in the Supreme Court by advocate Anindya Sundar Das and advocate Priyanka Tibrewal.

Biswajit Sarkar, brother of Abhijit Sarkar, the only BJP worker allegedly murdered by TMC workers in Kolkata on May 2, the same day on which the results were declared, said: “The attackers had used wires to drag my brother. They had assaulted me too but my brother was their primary target. Hopefully I will get justice now.”

In South 24 Parganas, Sankar Adhikari, still recounts the horror of how his brother Haran Adhikari was battered to death near their house on the same night.

“The TMC had been threatening my brother for many days as he was a BJP supporter and used to chant Jai Shri Ram. He was attacked after the results were declared. He was battered to death and his face was almost unrecognizable. Hopefully all these incidents will be probed, and the culprits would be hanged,” said Sankar, a resident of Sonarpur.

The BJP has already released the names of 42 party workers, including Sarkar and Adhikari, who were allegedly killed in post poll violence. The TMC while brushing aside such allegations has maintained that there has hardly been any post poll incident after May 5, when Mamata Banerjee took charge.

“We have been saying right from the beginning that there has been massive post-poll violence. The NHRC report also said this. Now the HC has said the same thing. The state has been denying this from the very beginning,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.

The NHRC had told the high court that it had received around 1979 complaints covering around 15,000 victims. In its report the committee also stated that at least 1934 complaints were lodged with various police stations between May 2 and June 20 out of which 29 related to murder and 12 were related attempt to rape and sexual assault.

At Nanoor in Birbhum where allegations of a gang rape had surfaced after a section of some BJP leaders posted pictures of a victim, the police had said that it was fake news and no such incident had taken place.

“There is absolute peace in the district. There has been no violence. The BJP is bringing false allegations. Let the CBI come and investigate,” said Anubrata Mondol, TMC’s Birbhum district president.

But it is not that only the BJP has allegedly come under attack. A day after taking charge as the chief minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that at least 16 people were killed from both the BJP and the TMC.

At least three TMC workers – Shahjahan Shah, Srinaiban Ghosh and Bibhas Bag – were killed on May 3 at Jamalpur in East Burdwan.

“Bag was attacked with a sharp weapon by BJP workers when they found him alone on a desolate village road a day after the results were declared. He has a six-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. I hope the CBI also takes into account all these and doesn’t only target a particular political party”

While BJP has welcomed the HC decision and has been targeting the TMC over the NHRC committee report, senior TMC leaders have been claiming that the NHRC committee report was politically motivated.

But while the CBI would be probing allegations of murder, rape and crime and against women, a court monitored SIT comprising three senior officers from the state police would look into the other crimes such as loot and arson.

“I am lucky to be alive. But TMC men had beaten me up, ransacked my house, set the haystack on fire and damaged all the crops. I hope these are also looked into and I get justice,” said Bidyut Roy, a resident of Jalangi in Murshidabad district.