Hand over Sheikh Shahjahan and all the case-related documents to CBI today: Calcutta HC tells Bengal police
The Calcutta High Court ordered the Bengal state police to hand over the mastermind of the attack on ED and CAPF teams, Sheikh Shahjahan, from the custody of the CID to the investigating officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday itself.
The court has ordered an independent probe by the CBI into the attack on ED and CAPF teams at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on January 5.
The Calcutta High Court also directed the state police to hand over all the case-related documents to the CBI.
A division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya heard the Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea seeking an independent CBI probe into the matter after reserving its judgment on Monday.
Initially, the single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta had ordered a probe into the attack on ED and CAPF teams in Sandeshkhali on January 5, which was allegedly orchestrated by Shahjahan, by a joint SIT of the West Bengal Police and the CBI.
However, the ED had challenged the order and demanded that the probe be independently handled by the CBI. At that point of time, the division bench had put an interim stay on the formation and probe by a joint SIT.
In the meantime, Shahjahan was arrested by the police on the night of February 28 after being on the run for 55 days, and the CID of the state police was handed over the probe.
Welcoming the high court order, BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya said on Tuesday that this is a positive development considering the widespread fear that evidence might have been tampered with had Shahjahan remained in state police custody for long.
“This is a welcome verdict given the current role of the state police, which is restricted to just blindly following the directions of the ruling party and guarding the accused persons,” Bhattacharya said.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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HC has no jurisdiction nor power to order Mumtaz Begum