Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the CBI to probe the alleged attack on Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik's convoy during a visit to his constituency in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district last month.
Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari , had filed a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the attack alleging a conspiracy to cause bodily harm to Pramanik, a BJP MP, during his visit to Dinhata on February 25. A division bench presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava ordered the transfer of cases filed in connection with the incident from the state police to the CBI.
Stating that the allegations are against the workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the court observed that a possibility that the state police may not fairly carry out the investigation cannot be denied, specially when the other side comprises workers of the principal opposition party in the state.
"Considering the fact that the attack is on the convoy of a Union Minister of State and the allegation is in respect of larger conspiracy to cause bodily harm to him, we are of the view that to ensure fair, unbiased and neutral investigation, it is necessary that the investigation is carried out by an independent agency," the court directed. The bench, also comprising Justice Rai Chattopadhyay, noted that there is an allegation of hurling of bombs and shrapnel damage to the minister's car and photograph thereof has also been enclosed with the petition, but there has been no proper investigation in this direction.
The court pointed out that while the incident took place on February 25, a complaint by the CISF, which provides security to the minister, was registered by the police only on February 27, while another case was registered on February 26. The bench said that the complaint mentions the names of as many as 30 offenders, but no prompt action by the state police is reflected against them. The bench said that it has been pointed out that the police had registered another FIR and different yardsticks have been applied by the force to take action against the workers of the two different political parties.
The court observed that a perusal of the case diaries of the two FIRs reveals that investigation is not heading in the right direction. Adhikari, in his petition, alleged that Pramanik's car and convoy was attacked during his visit to Dinhata on February 25 and workers belonging to the Trinamool Congress had thrown stones and hurled bombs at the convoy.
It was alleged that bombs broke the window panes of the car and the shrapnel damage to the body of the vehicle could have resulted in fatalities. The petitioner claimed that the incident was part of a larger conspiracy to commit bodily harm upon the Union Minister of State for Home.
It was alleged that two TMC leaders had made provocative speeches which had been uploaded on the social media. Advocate General S N Mookherjee, representing the state government, opposed the prayer for a CBI investigation. He submitted that on the basis of complaint, two FIRs were registered and investigations are in progress. (PTI)
