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CBI teams visit more Bengal families to investigate post-poll violence
Members of the four CBI teams visited Kolkata, Purulia, Nadia and Bankura districts and registered nine first information reports (FIR). One of these was in connection with BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar’s murder in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area on May 2. The Kolkata Police has so far arrested seven people in this case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday recorded the statements of some families in at least three districts of West Bengal while carrying out an investigation into post-poll violence, said officials aware of the development.
The investigation was ordered by the Calcutta high court on July 19.
Two CBI teams went to South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts; while a third team revisited the home of Jaiprakash Yadav, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker who died in a bomb attack by motorcycle-borne assailants at Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district on June 6. A fourth team is supposed to leave for north Bengal.
Each of these four 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 the officers have arrived in Bengal. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is providing security to the visiting teams.
A CBI team recorded the statements of Yadav’s parents on Thursday. “On Friday, the family was asked 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 by the bomb that hit him on the head,” a CBI officer stationed in Kolkata said on condition of anonymity.
Members of the four CBI teams did not talk to the media in any of the districts they visited. On Thursday, they visited Kolkata, Purulia, Nadia and Bankura districts and registered nine first information reports (FIR). One of these was in connection with BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar’s murder in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area on May 2. The Kolkata Police has so far arrested seven people in this case.
On Friday, CBI officers who visited Nadia district talked to the family of BJP worker Palas Mandal who was killed on June 14 in Krishnanagar town.
In South 24 Parganas district, the officers met some families in the Usthi area that witnessed violence after Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the polls.
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 murder and rape and a parallel probe into the other offences by a three-member special investigation team (SIT) comprising IPS officers posted in Bengal.
The NHRC recommended a CBI probe and hearing of the cases outside Bengal. The state government told the court that the NHRC report was biased and prepared with a political motive.
