Kolkata:
In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the death of a Trinamool activist allegedly in police custody in the Hooghly district earlier this year. The court pulled up the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police for its shoddy handling of the case, including its inability to question a Trinamool MLA who is under the scanner for her role in the death.
Kazi Nasiruddin had died allegedly of police excesses at the Dhanekhali police station in Hooghly district on January 18. He was picked up by cops for allegedly not possessing documents required for the vehicle he was driving.
His family has alleged that the local MLA, Asima Patra, is responsible for his death; they say he was protesting against the alleged extortion by the MLA.
"They're terrorising the villagers that if they stand by us or help us, they'll be beaten up. They've already wounded one's head. They're not letting my children study. We are being threatened that our house will be vandalized," said Mr Nasiruddin's widow, Manoja Bibi.
The MLA had allegedly made several phone calls to the Officer in-Charge (OC) of the police station where Mr Nasiruddin died.
"She had definite nexus with the OC and attempted to influence the investigation, and very funny that the CID didn't even interrogate her," said Bikash Bhattacharya, Mr Nasiruddin's lawyer.
The court also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that no action was initiated against the officer in-charge of the police station despite Mr Nasiruddin's post-mortem indicating several injuries on his body. The cops at the police station, in their statement to the CID, had said that Mr Nasiruddin had just been slapped.