Supreme Court Transfers Cases Against West Bengal BJP Leader Kabir Shankar Bose To CBI

The cases pertain to alleged crimes of assault and molestation of TMC workers in 2020 being probed by the West Bengal Police.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred the probe into two criminal cases against West Bengal BJP leader Kabir Shankar Bose from the state police to the CBI. The FIR was lodged in 2020, and was in connection with the assault and molestation of TMC workers.

The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising justices BV Nagarathna and Justice Pankaj Mithal. Bose had moved the apex court alleging that false criminal charges were filed against him due to political rivalry.

The apex court directed the respondents to hand over the investigation papers pursuant to the "two FIRs to the CBI along with all records for its completion so that, if necessary, the trial may commence, and justice is done to the parties". "The writ petition is allowed accordingly," said the bench, allowing the plea filed by Bose. The detailed judgment in the matter will be uploaded later in the day.

Bose has alleged that the cases were orchestrated by TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, and also claimed that he was unlawfully restrained from leaving his house on the day of the alleged incident on December 6, 2020.

In his plea, Bose said he along with his CISF guards were mobbed amid loud sloganeering in West Bengal's Serampore which was led by Santosh Kumar Singh alias Pappu Singh just outside his residence around 8 pm.

"As part of the protocol, CISF immediately secured the petitioner in a secured location and removed him from the spot. What ensued thereafter was protocol on the part of CISF to secure their protectee's life and the Petitioner was not even present on the spot.

Till 2 am, the entire building was under siege by over 200 TMC hooligans led by Kalyan Banerji, the sitting member of parliament of the area supported actively by the state police," he said in his plea.

Bose was seeking a direction for transferring the investigation into the case to CBI, an SIT or any independent agency from the West Bengal Police.

The apex court in January 2021, had put on hold proceedings in two criminal cases against Bose.