By IANS
Kolkata : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday submitted its probe report on the mysterious death of graphic designer Rizwanur Rahman to the Calcutta High Court.
The CBI submitted the sealed report before the bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta amid speculation that the accused, including top Kolkata Police officers and Rizwanur’s father-in-law industrialist Ashok Todi, were charged with abetment to suicide and not murder.
The contents will only be known after the hearing based on the CBI report starts Friday.
The Calcutta High Court had directed the CBI to investigate the mysterious death of Rizwanur, whose body was found on rail tracks in north Kolkata on Sep 21 last year, nearly a month after his marriage to Hindu girl Priyanka against the wishes of her father Ashok Todi, who heads the Lux Cozi hosiery group.
Rizwanur had approached the rights group Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), naming the cops who had harassed and threatened him since the marriage.
“We are happy with the CBI probe. But it is premature to make any comment on the report just now. We will comment after our lawyer learns the contents of the report,” said Rukbanur Rahman, Rizwanur’s brother.
“We think justice would be done and we stand by our complaints against the people who we think were responsible for his death,” he said.
Media reports quoting unnamed CBI sources earlier said the investigating agency had framed abetment to suicide charges against four city police officers, including two Indian Police Service officials, who allegedly threatened and pressurised Rizwanur at Todi’s behest to opt out of the marriage.
The investigating agency reportedly found that the Todi family abetted Rizwanur’s suicide and has accordingly framed charges against Ashok Todi and his brother Pradip Todi.
The CBI has also filed charges against Pappu, Rizwanur’s family friend, who had allegedly accepted a bribe from the Todi brothers to separate the couple, the report said.
Ashok Todi earlier said his daughter Priyanka’s marriage with the Muslim graphic designer had come as a shock to him.
“My daughter’s marriage with Rizwanur came as a shock to me. I was taking time to accept the fact,” he told a television news channel last month.
The graphic designer’s death triggered an unprecedented civil society movement in West Bengal with leading citizens and common people taking to the streets and keeping candlelight vigils in their demand for justice and punishment to the guilty.
West Bengal’s ruling communists came under fire too from civil society for trying to shield the guilty policemen. However, following public pressure, the accused cops were removed.
Prasun Mukherjee, then Kolkata police commissioner who held a press conference to almost justify the actions of the Todis, was removed from his post while some big names were drawn into the case as skeletons started tumbling out of the cupboard.