By IANS
Kolkata : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the mysterious death of Muslim youth Rizwanur Rahman began Saturday with sleuths visiting the spot from where his body was found and meeting his family, a day after filing a murder case against his industrialist father-in-law Ashok Todi.
The family of Rizwanur Rahman expressed satisfaction over the progress of the probe on its first day and told the investigators that the youth’s murder was pre-meditated.
A seven-member CBI team, led by Special Crime Branch (SCB) joint director Arun Kumar, visited the spot at Patipukur, the railway track between Bidhan Pally and Shanti Colony, here from where Rizwanur’s body was found Sep 21.
The team also visited Rizwanur’s Tiljala Lane residence in the evening and spoke to the his mother Keshwar Jahan, brother Rukbanur and other family members.
Expressing satisfaction over CBI’s first day of investigation, Rukbanur told a press conference that he had explained all the incidents chronologically to the investigating officers.
“It was just a preliminary investigation. We explained everything to the CBI officers and told them about Ashok Todi’s role in the entire incident. We repeatedly stressed, as we have been continuously saying, that it was a pre-planned murder, not a case of suicide,” Rukbanur said.
The officials did not ask anything specific about Rizwanur’s wife Priyanka or her father Ashok Todi, he said, adding that there was no talk about viscera or the post-mortem report of Rizwanur.
They tried to get an idea of the brief conjugal life of Rizwanur and Priyanka at the Tiljala Lane home after they were married under the Special Marriages Act in August against Ashok Todi’s wishes.
Earlier in the day, Arun Kumar told journalists: “We have lodged a first information report (FIR) against Ashok Todi on the basis of the (Calcutta) High Court’s order. An FIR is not a charge, it is only an information.”
He said the case against Todi had been filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with murder, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation with the threat to cause death.
He said no case had been registered against the police officials allegedly involved in the murder.
Asked whether Todi would be arrested, the official declined to comment. “We have just started our investigations,” he said.
While the tainted cops were transferred this week following public outcry and had been interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Todi had remained untouched except for initial summons by the CID, which surprisingly had not registered any case against the industrialist.
The CBI probe instead began with a murder case against Todi who owns the multi-million-rupee Lux Cozi group.
The body of Rizwanur, 30, a computer graphics designer, was found Sep 21 with his head smashed, barely a month after his marriage.
Todi had allegedly threatened his son-in-law with dire consequences and put serious pressure on him through the police to annul the marriage.
The high court had Tuesday ordered a CBI inquiry into Rizwanur’s death terming the ongoing West Bengal CID investigation as “illegal”.
Faced with a court rebuke and public protests, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Wednesday removed five police officials, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, for their alleged collusion with Todi in Rizwanur’s harassment and death.