Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed six FIRs in connection with the clashes that broke out in West Bengal during Ram Navami celebrations. NIA is investigating the clashes following orders of the Calcutta High Court.
Violence and arson were reported in many places in Howrah's Shibpur and Hooghly's Rishra during Ram Navami processions on March 30. Following which, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the court.
Initially, West Bengal CID was inquiring into the Ram Navami clashes but the investigations were handed over to the NIA by Calcutta High Court's division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya on April 27.
According to NIA sources, the investigating agency is set to submit a report under the supervision of a DIG-rank officer of NIA in Kolkata to the court on Thursday. NIA will also seek court's instructions so that investigations are officially handed over to them from the state police.
Following high court order, NIA shot letters to Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Tripathi and Hooghly Chandannagar Police Commissioner Amit Prakash Javalgi seeking documents relating to the clashes along with FIRs that the state police had earlier lodged in this connection.
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NIA has sought a host of information ranging from what exactly had happened during the Ram Navami processions and the people who were involved. The agency has also inquired as to when the news reached the police, how many FIRs were filed and other basic information pertaining to the incident, NIA sources said.
Besides this, the central investigators wants to gather further information by talking to the officials who investigated the incident. They want to know whether the intelligence department of the state police had any prior information about the Ram Navami procession and the incidents of violence associated with it.
