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Police handling of Rizwanur case draws flak from High Court

Special Correspondent

CBI asked to file charge sheets against “abettors” in suicide

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday came down on a section of the city police for its handling of the case of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rahman, whose body was found by the rail track near here in September last.

The court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file charge sheets against the seven persons it had charged with abetting in Rahman’s suicide.

The ruling by Justice Dipankar Datta was kept in abeyance for three weeks to enable the accused to file an appeal.

In its report submitted to the court earlier this year, the CBI concluded that it was a case of suicide and sought permission to chargesheet the seven “abettors,” including Rizwanur’s father-in-law Ashok Todi, brother Pradip Todi and three police officials.

Rizwanur was found dead a few weeks after his marriage to Priyanka, against the wishes of her family.

The incident triggered a public outcry, resulting in the State government removing five senior city police officials suspected to have been involved in the events leading to Rizwanur’s death. Among them was the then Commissioner of Police, Prasun Mukherjee.

Justice Datta was critical of the police handling of the Rizwanur-Priyanka affair. He said summoning the couple for questioning to the police headquarters at a time when they were seeking police help was unconstitutional.

It appeared that the police were only for the privileged, Justice Datta said. He pointed out that Mr. Mukherjee suppressed facts, at a press conference, in favour of the Todis shortly after Rizwanur’s death.

Displeasure

Justice Datta also expressed his displeasure at the manner in which the Criminal Investigation Department conducted preliminary investigations before the case was handed over to the CBI.

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