NEW DELHI: The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the
Birbhum killings case
.
Earlier on Wednesday, the high court took cognizance of the Birbhum incident where eight people were burnt to death following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh.
The court directed an SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj directed the CBI to file a progress report by April 7, the next date of hearing of the matter.
The bench said that the CBI probe was being ordered in the interest of justice.
Eight people, including two children, were charred to death in Bogtui village of Bengal's Birbhum district in the suspected fallout of a TMC panachayat official's murder.
The bench had suo motu taken up the case of the gruesome incident.
A set of PILs seeking CBI or NIA probe into the incident were also taken up for hearing by the court along with the suo motu petition.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed demanding an inquiry by a central agency. Presently, Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state government is investigating the case.
As many as eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum on Tuesday after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh.
Director-General of Police (DGP) West Bengal, Manoj Malviya informed that 11 arrests have been made in the case so far.
- With agency inputs