Apex court setback to Bengal government on Netai killings

By IANS,

New Delhi: In a set back to the West Bengal government ahead of the assembly elections, the Supreme Court Thursday dismissed an appeal of the ruling Left Front that challenged the Calcutta High Court order directing a CBI probe into the Jan 7 Netai killings.


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Dismissing the appeal by the state government, the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly said the high court order transferring investigation from the state CID to the CBI could not be read adversely against the state investigating agency.

On Feb 18, 2011, the high court had directed the CID to hand over investigation to the CBI. When senior counsel Krishnan Venugopal appearing for the state said that it would reflect against the CID, the court said it would not.

The brief order by the court came after it heard pleading by Venugopal and senior counsel Kalyan Bandhopadhyay who appeared for the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights.

Earlier, Bandhopadhyay told the court that investigation needed to be kept with CBI as the CID in its over a month-long investigation has not been able to establish the identity of the armed people who were allegedly associated with the ruling party.

“Since members of the ruling party are involved, the state CID has not been making any progress,” Bandhopadhyay told the court.

The high court by its Feb 14, 2011, order had permitted the CID to continue with its probe. The apex court was told that the high court handed over investigation to CBI after perusing the records of investigation carried out by CID.

The Supreme Court in its first hearing March 1, 2011, took a serious exception to the West Bengal government approaching it over the Calcutta High Court handing over to the CBI the probe into the Netai village violence in which seven people were killed.

“The highest judicial authority (the Chief Justice of the High Court) in the state has ordered it (the probe) after going through the case records, still it doesn’t inspire confidence?” asked the apex court bench, chiding the West Bengal government.

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