CALCUTTA HC DIRECTED THE BIRBHUM VIOLENCE CASE TO BE TRANSFERRED TO CBI

The Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj of the Calcutta High Court transferred the murder of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) leader Bhadu Sheikh to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The bench initiated a suo motu case in the violence that took place in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, in which eight persons were killed in retaliation to the said murder. 

The Bench said that the object to find the person responsible for the incident would be achieved if the murder, along with the incident that took place thereafter, was investigated by the CBI.

The applicants submitted that the investigation must be done by the CBI since both incidents were interconnected. Moreover, the Investigation Agency was trying to cover up the issue in the Bhadu Sheikh case. However, Advocate General (AG) SN Mookherjee, stated that the petitioner made no prayer regarding the investigation of Sheikh's murder to be transferred to the CBI. Further, was there no allegation that the current investigation was being carried out improperly.

The Court responded by saying that setting ten houses on fire was not an isolated or independent incident, in fact, a direct fallout of the murder of Bhadu Sheikh. The bench also took into consideration that the incidents took place within a gap of about two hours from each other. Therefore, the prayer to transfer the case to the CBI was allowed. The bench directed the State Police to immediately hand over the investigation to CBI.

The Bench also took on record the report filed by the CBI in view of the Court's previous order. The report prima facie suggested that the incident was a counter-blast to the murder of Bhadu Sheikh, the report also suggested that the incident was the outcome of a rivalry amongst two groups in the village.