By IANS
Kolkata : Investigating the death of Rizwanur Rahman, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team Monday quizzed his industrialist father-in-law Ashok Todi’s brother Pradip Todi and also visited his work place to interrogate some of his friends and colleagues there.
“We called Pradip Todi and asked him a few questions. His statement has been recorded and we are examining it,” CBI Special Crime Branch (SCB) joint director Arun Kumar, who is heading the seven-member investigation team, told reporters here.
Pradip Todi had accompanied Ashok Todi to Rizwanur’s home allegedly to threaten the Muslim youth to opt out of his marriage with the industrialist’s daughter Priyanka.
Kumar said the CBI had already examined the post-mortem report of Rizwanur and also taken a copy of it. “We have been divided into two groups and investigating the case,” he said.
He however declined to say if any name of the Kolkata police official had figured in Pradip Todi’s statement.
“I can’t divulge the investigation details but if any name of a police official comes in course of the investigation he would be called,” Kumar said.
The CBI investigation team interrogated four faculty members of Arena Multimedia, where Rizwanur used to work as a graphic designer, and also questioned Arena’s director A.D. Singh.
The officers, however, could not open Rizwanur’s computer, as there was no technical expert in their team.
A former girlfriend of Rizwanur was also quizzed by women officials of the CBI.
Meanwhile, Pradip Todi said that Priyanka and Ashok Todi were very much in their Salt Lake house, when reporters stationed outside the Todi mansion queried him on the father-daughter duo’s whereabouts.
“She (Priyanka) is in this house. Ashok Todi is also here,” he said.
The CBI team, which arrived here Saturday, is expected to interrogate the two soon.
The body of Rizwanur, 30, was found on Sep 21 with his head smashed, barely a month after his marriage to Priyanka.
The CBI team Sunday also interrogated the driver and the guard of the Burdwan-Sealdah local train who first spotted the body by the track.
A railway police employee, some of the victim’s relatives including brother Rukbanur, his wife and two cousins, human rights activist Sujato Bhadra, and an 18-year-old student of Rizwanur who was one of the last people he had spoken to before his death were also questioned earlier.
While the tainted cops were transferred following public outcry and had been interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), till Monday the Todis had remained untouched except for initial summons by the CID, which surprisingly had not registered any case against Ashok Todi.
The CBI probe, however, began last week with a murder case against Ashok Todi who owns the multi-million-rupee Lux Cozi group.
Ashok 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 Calcutta 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 Ashok Todi, and assured to cooperate with the CBI.