: A Division Bench of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday set aside the order of a Single Bench on the CBI probe into a murder case in Birbhum district, in which a senior leader of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) is an accused.
The Division said that there are no grounds to order further investigation into the case following the charge sheet.
The Division Bench observed that a “hunch of the court whipped up by people demanding justice cannot be the basis” for ordering “further investigation of the case.”
Justice Harish Tandon had on September 24 directed the CBI to probe the murder case under Panrui police station, pointing out that the probe by State agencies was tainted with “extraneous interference”.
The Birbum district president of AITC Anubrata Mondal is one of the prime accused in the murder of Sagar Ghosh, father of an independent panchayat candidate Hridoy Ghosh.
The family members of the deceased said on Wednesday that they would approach the Supreme Court challenging the Division Bench order.
Mr. Ghosh was killed in June 2013 days after Mr. Mondal allegedly exhorted his supporters to attack the house of independents and hurl bombs at the police.
The trial in the murder case had hit the headlines when the Single Bench asked the West Bengal Director General of Police GMP Reddy to appear before the Court.
Justice Tandon in his order has also been critical of the DGP for giving a clean chit to Mr Mondal in this matter. Following the Single Bench order, the State government challenged the matter before the Division Bench.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of West Bengal police had filed a charge-sheet before a trail court in Birbhum on July 16 without informing the Single Bench which was hearing the matter.
In its order, the Division Bench has also observed that the “criminal court possesses enough power to catch and punish the real offenders (even if they have escaped the investigation net), if substantive evidence is given in proof of commission of offence by them.”
The Division Bench order states that it is not correct to say that the SIT did not investigate the conspiracy angle, involvement of the police and political leaders. The judgment points out that the reasons pointed out by Justice Tandon while ordering re-investigation “could be no reason for ordering a post charge-sheet further investigation”.
