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CBI questions cops who were suspended after Birbhum massacre; toll rises to 9
Petitioners who moved the Calcutta high court said the CBI should investigate not only the massacre but also the killing of Bhadu Sheikh, the local panchayat leader.
With the death toll in the March 21 massacre at Bogtui village in Bengal’s Birbhum district rising to nine on Monday, two police officers suspended for dereliction of duty were questioned for hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Asked by the Calcutta high court on March 25 to probe the case, the CBI also questioned the arrested suspects, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) community block unit president Anarul Hossain, and members of the affected families.
Najma Bibi, one of the women admitted at the government hospital in Rampurhat town, died around 1.30 pm on Monday, officials said.
Najma Bibi -- who sustained 65% burns on the night of March 21 when around 10 houses were set on fire by a mob -- was rescued by fire brigade personnel along with two other injured women and a minor. The four were rushed to the Rampurhat hospital, said a district health department official. One woman died on March 22, soon after seven charred bodies were found inside another house.
The petitioners who had moved the division bench of chief justice Prakash Shrivastava and justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj demanding the CBI probe said on Monday that the agency should investigate not only the massacre but also what preceded it.
The killings were carried out in retaliation by followers and relatives of Bhadu Sheikh, the deputy chief of the local Barshal panchayat, shortly after he was murdered in public by his rivals. Most of the victims were women and two were children. The state government has not yet declared their identities but chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at a public meeting on Sunday that the victims and the attackers were all supporters of the TMC.
“The CBI should probe the massacre as well as the murder of Bhadu Sheikh,” said lawyer Lokenath Chatterjee who represents one of the five petitioners. Chatterjee, who visited Bogtui village on Sunday with a team of lawyers, said, “Bhadu Sheikh’s brother, Babar Sheikh, was shot dead in January last year in the same village. The CBI probe will be fruitless if it does not connect all these crimes.”
Lawyer Priyanka Tibrewal, one of the five petitioners, said, “I will file an affidavit at the high court demanding a CBI probe in all the incidents.”
Nagma Bibi’s husband, Sheikhlal Sheikh, alleged on Monday that Bhadu Seikh was involved in illegal business and extortion from transporters who carry sand from river beds and stones from quarries to other states and districts.
“Bhadu Sheikh had around 70 youths working for him. The massacre was carried out by his men. Police wanted to save us but they were stopped by Anarul Hossain,” Sheikhlal Sheikh told the media at Rampurhat hospital.
The same charges were earlier made by another villager, Mihilal Sheikh, whose relative Sanju Sheikh’s home was set on fire. Mihilal had fled to a village in the Sainthia area for safety. On Monday, a CBI team went to Sainthia and recorded his statement.
The two suspended officers – Tridib Pramanik, inspector-in-charge of Rampurhat police station, and Sayan Ahmed, the sub-divisional police officer – were also questioned by the CBI as both were on duty after Bhadu Sheikh’s murder.
Bhadu Sheikh sustained bomb and bullet injuries around 8.30 pm on March 21 and the retaliatory attacks started after around an hour.
The victims were hacked with sharp weapons such as an axe before being set on fire, a TMC member of the Barshal panchayat as well as the son of one of the murdered women, Mina Bibi, had earlier alleged.
Mamata Banerjee had formed a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the massacre but it was taken off the case by the high court.
