'FIRs Registered, 6 Persons Arrested' : West Bengal Govt Tells Supreme Court In Plea For SIT Probe On Killings Of 2 BJP Workers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal Government to file a counter-affidavit in a writ petition which seeks CBI/SIT probe into the killings of two BJP activists allegedly at the instance of Trinamool Congress leaders during the post-poll violence Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the State of West Bengal, told a vacation bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai that FIRs have been registered by the state police in respect of both the killings, and three persons have been arrested each in both the cases based on the allegations of the complainants.Mr.Luthra also told the bench that a 5-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court is considering the issues of the post-poll violence, and that the petiitoners have not disclosed this fact to the Supreme Court. The senior lawyer informed the bench that the 5-judge bench, which has already issued few directions in the matter, was scheduled to hear the case today at 2 PM but the hearing got adjourned as the Acting Chief Justice was not available today.The bench then directed Mr.Luthra to file a counter-affidavit stating these facts and adjourned the case for two weeks. The case has been tagged along with another petition, which seeks compensation and rehabilitation of the victims of Bengal post-poll violence, on which the bench issued had notice today.The Court was considering a writ petition filed by Biswajit Sarkar, brother of deceased BJP member Avijit Sarkar who was allegedly killed by TMC members during the post-poll violence in West Bengal. The petitioner seeks the constitution of a Special Investigation Team(SIT) to investigate under the monitoring of the court the alleged murder of his brother and BJP booth worker Haran Adhikari allegedly at the behest of Trinamool Congress members. The widow of Haran Adhikari is the second petitioner in the case.The plea further seeks for an investigation into the acts of widespread violence which took place in West Bengal after the Trinamool Congress was elected to power for the second consecutive term on May 2.On the previous hearing date, May 18, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioners, had submitted that there was total inaction by the West Bengal police after the "brutal murders" and that there are attempts to "subvert the investigation"."The activists who were murdered belonged to BJP. It was encouraged by the State administration and the police story idly by...The State is taking no action. It requires action and court monitoring", Mr.Jethmalani submitted.Mr.Jethamalani further made a prayer for video-recording of the post-mortem of the dead body of Avijit Sarkar, which has not been cremated so far. The bench said that it cannot consider this prayer ex-parte.

'FIRs Registered, 6 Persons Arrested' : West Bengal Govt Tells Supreme Court In Plea For SIT Probe On Killings Of 2 BJP Workers

Radhika Roy

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