Kolkata: A court in Kolkata on Friday sent three people — a retired assistant commissioner of police, a lady inspector, and a home guard — to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the post-election murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker in May 2021.
“Retired assistant commissioner of police Subhajit Sen, inspector Ratna Sarkar, and home guard Dipankar Debnath were sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a city sessions court in Kolkata in connection with the murder of Abhijit Sarkar on May 2, 2021,” a lawyer aware of the developments said.
Hours after the results of the 2021 West Bengal assembly election were announced on May 2, with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) returned to power for the third time in a row, Sarkar was murdered allegedly by some TMC workers in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area.
“While Sen was the officer-in-charge of the Narkeldanga police station when the crime took place, Ratna Sarkar was a sub-inspector back then, and Debnath was a home guard. Later, Sen was promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner of police and Sarkar was promoted to the rank of inspector,” the lawyer added.
The Kolkata Police’s detective department, which initially probed the murder case, had filed its chargesheet on August 6, 2021. They had named 15 people.
{{/usCountry}}The Kolkata Police’s detective department, which initially probed the murder case, had filed its chargesheet on August 6, 2021. They had named 15 people.
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The Calcutta High Court, on August 19, 2021, ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the case. The federal agency filed a supplementary chargesheet on September 30, naming 20 people, including the 15 already named in the chargesheet filed by Kolkata Police.
On June 30 this year, the CBI filed a second supplementary chargesheet against 18 additional accused, including TMC MLA from Beleghata Paresh Paul, councillor of Kolkata’s ward number 56 Swapan Samaddar, and councillor of ward 30 Papiya Ghosh, along with the three sent to jail on Friday.
Paul has moved the Calcutta High Court for anticipatory bail.
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The TMC has questioned the timing of the second supplementary chargesheet. “The incident took place four years ago after the elections. The 2026 assembly elections are approaching. Why did the CBI file a second supplementary chargesheet now? Is it a ploy to create a political narrative ahead of the assembly polls?” TMC state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said.
“The judge remarked, What will happen to society if the protector becomes the predator? The CBI investigation is progressing on the right path. No one guilty in the incidents of post-poll violence will be spared,” BJP legislator and leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote on X.
No senior officers of the Kolkata Police commented on the court’s order, saying that the matter was being heard by the court.