In an interim order, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused a petition requesting that the CBI take over investigations into the January 7 incident at Netai near Lalgarh in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district in which nine persons were killed.
The court, however, will monitor the investigation being carried out by the State police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
A division bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice Ashim Kumar Roy passed the order on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Calcutta High Court Bar Association on January 10.
The petitioners had questioned the neutrality of a State agency like the CID in probing the incident as the perpetrators were living in the home of Rathin Dandapat, a local leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Netai. Sukhendu Sekar Roy, counsel for the Bar Association also pointed out certain lapses in the investigation.
The court, however, ruled that at this stage it was not required that the investigation be handed over to the CBI, but proposed to monitor the investigations so that it was fair, impartial and thorough. The order also said that in future, if the court was not satisfied with the investigations, it might be handed over to the CBI or any other competent agency.
The petitioners had also submitted a list of the alleged armed camps of CPI (M) cadres. The court has directed that the State police as well as Central forces carry out joint operations and the list be verified and necessary action taken.
The petition also raised the matter of compensation to be given to the victims and the court awarded an interim compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to those who died in the incident, Rs. 1 lakh to the grievously injured and Rs. 50,000 to other injured. The compensation will have to be paid within seven days and a medical board under the Director of Health Services will be constituted to determine the compensation.
