West Bengal post-poll violence: CBI registers 28 cases, detains two people so far

Kolkata: As part of its probe into the serious cases of post-poll violence in West Bengal, the CBI on Sunday registered seven more cases taking the total number of FIRs to 28, following a Calcutta High Court directive earlier this month, IANS reported.

On Saturday, the CBI had arrested two persons in connection with the alleged murder of BJP worker Dharma Mandal in Nadia's Chapra. These are the first arrests made by the central agency in the case.

The CBI has been tasked by the court to probe the most heinous crimes of murder, rape and attempt to rape that were filed following Trinamool's massive win in the March-April elections against the BJP.

The four CBI teams - of over 20 officers led by a joint director - visited the homes and villages of complainants and victims in Burdwan, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Cooch Behar districts on Sunday.

An elderly woman was allegedly murdered by Trinamool-backed goons in mid-May at Jamalpur in Burdwan district. The CBI team spoke to her family and neighbours about the incident.

In Birbhum district, the CBI is focusing on the alleged murder of businessman Manoj Jaiswal. At Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district, the team stopped at the village of alleged murder victim Shahidul Rehman. In South 24 Parganas, the team met the father of Raju Samanta, murdered allegedly by Trinamool-backed goons.

The CBI began the exercise in Bengal on Thursday, exactly a week after the Calcutta High Court ordered it to investigate the cases of murder, rape and attempted murder. The court also set up a Special Investigation Team to probe cases like arson, loot and criminal intimidation.

The National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), which the court ordered to examine complaints of post-poll violence, had said in its report that 1979 complaints were received by it involving 15,000 victims.

The state police listed 1934 complaints and 1168 FIRs filed. But out of the 9,304 accused persons named, only 1,345 or 14 per cent were arrested and at the time of the report being filed, 1,036 were out on bail.

Which meant less than 3 per cent of the named accused were in jail in mid-July.

The report indicted the police for complicity with Trinamool-backed goons, failure to file FIRs, apathy in senior ranks.

The NHRC had visited 311 places between 24 June and 10 July.

The Trinamool had dismissed the allegations by the NHRC as an attempt by the BJP, which governs at the centre, to target the state government.