CBI visits Rizwanur death spot, Todi faces heat

Kolkata, Oct 20 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday began its probe into Muslim youth Rizwanur Rahman’s death by visiting the spot from where his body was found, a day after filing a murder case against his industrialist father-in-law Ashok Todi.

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.


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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 Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections dealing with murder (302), criminal conspiracy (506) and criminal intimidation with the threat to cause death (120B).

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. His daughter Priyanka had married Rizwanur in August against her father’s wishes.

The body of Rizwanur, 30, a computer graphics designer, was found Sep 21 with his head smashed, barely a month after his marriage with Priyanka.

Todi had allegedly threatened his son-in-law with dire consequence 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.

“It’s good that CBI has finally started their investigation. We have been continuously raising our demand for a CBI inquiry. We will wait for justice to come,” Rizwanur’s brother Rukbanur Rahman said.

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