News Analysis India

Tag: Birbhum killings

  • CBI files before Calcutta HC probe progress reports in Birbhum killings, TMC leader’s murder

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The CBI on Monday submitted before the Calcutta High Court probe progress reports in the Birbhum arson case, which left 10 people dead, and the murder of TMC panchayat deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh that allegedly led to the killings.

    A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj, which ordered a CBI probe into the two incidents, had directed the agency to file the progress reports on the investigations on May 2.

    The bench had on March 25 ordered that the probe into the March 21 violence at Bogtui in Birbhum district be handed over to CBI from the West Bengal government-appointed special investigation team.

    It had subsequently on April 8 ordered that the investigation in the murder of Bhadu Sheikh be also handed over to the CBI from the state police, observing that the second incident prima facie seems to be the fall out of the murder of Sheikh.

    Ten people, including women and children, died after miscreants set fire to houses in Bogtui village on March 21.

    The massacre happened shortly after Sheikh was killed.

  • CBI arrests man who transported petrol used in Birbhum massacre

    By PTI

    RAMPURHAT: The CBI on Thursday arrested the e-rickshaw driver who allegedly transported the petrol that was used in setting ablaze the houses in Birbhum’s Bogtui village, leading to the death of nine people, an official said.

    Ritan Shiekh was nabbed from his house in Bogtui in the early hours, he said.

    “He was identified from the CCTV footage. Also, his name cropped up in statements given by other suspects arrested and witnesses,” the CBI official told PTI.

    Ritan went missing after the massacre, he said.

    “He used to go into hiding during the day, and return home in the dead of the night,” the official said.

    The CBI was on the hunt for him, he said.

    With this, the CBI has made six arrests in the case after taking over the probe from the West Bengal police on the direction of the Calcutta High Court.

    The agency has also taken custody of 22 persons earlier arrested by the police.

    The CBI searched Ritan’s house after his arrest, the official said.

    Nine people died of burn injuries as their houses in Bogtui were allegedly firebombed after the murder of local TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh.

  • CBI arrests one more person in Birbhum killings case

    By PTI

    RAMPURHAT: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday apprehended one more person in connection with the Birbhum killings, taking the total number of arrests made by the agency in the case to five, an official said.

    The accused, identified as Samir Sheikh, a resident of Bogtui village, was called by CBI sleuths for questioning on Sunday morning, he said.

    “This man’s name cropped up every time we spoke with eye-witnesses. Today, he was giving us different versions and trying to confuse us. We arrested him and will continue questioning him,” the CBI official said.

    Earlier, the CBI had arrested four accused people from Mumbai.

    The West Bengal Police had further arrested 22 people for their alleged involvement in the case.

    All of them are presently in CBI custody.

    Nine people died of burn injuries after assailants threw petrol bombs at several houses in Bogtui village near Rampurhat town on March 21 following the murder of local TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh.

    A Special Investigation Team constituted by the state government was earlier probing the case, which was later handed over to the CBI as per the Calcutta High Court’s order.

  • Birbhum killings: CBI books 10 people in TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh’s murder

    By PTI

    RAMPURHAT: The CBI on Saturday registered an FIR against 10 people in connection with the murder of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh, which apparently led to the killing of nine people in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, a senior official said.

    Among those named in the FIR are Palash Shiekh, Sanju Shiekh, Sona Shiekh and Choto Shiekh — who have been arrested, he said.

    The case was filed under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act.

    The CBI visited Rampurhat police station during the day, and collected the case diary and documents linked to Bhadhu Shiekh’s murder investigation, the official said.

    “The CBI officers spoke to the police personnel there. They also spoke to witnesses of the murder and took stock of the situation,” he said.

    CBI officers also visited Bogtui Mor where Bhadu was killed, he added.

    The CBI took over the investigation of murder from the police, following an order of the Calcutta High Court.

    Bhadu’s murder is believed to have led to the killing of nine people on March 21 in Bogtui village.

    The nine people, including two children, died of burn injuries after their houses were allegedly firebombed.

  • Birbhum killings: Calcutta High Court orders CBI probe in TMC leader’s murder

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI investigation into the murder of Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh, in apparent retaliation to which nine persons were burnt to death in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.

    The high court had earlier ordered a CBI investigation into the killings of the nine people at Bogtui village.

    Prayers were made before a division bench presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava for ordering a CBI probe into the murder of Bhadu Sheikh as well, claiming that the two incidents were interlinked.

    The bench, also comprising Justice R Bharadwaj, ordered the transfer of the murder case of Sheikh from the state police to the CBI for the purpose of a complete investigation.

    The bench had on March 25 ordered that the probe into the March 21 violence at Bogtui be handed over to CBI from the West Bengal government-appointed special investigation team.

    The state DGP had on March 22 said that the violence at Bogtui took place within an hour of the murder of Sheikh, the deputy chief of the local panchayat. The place of the murder of Sheikh is about a kilometre away from Bogtui.

  • Birbhum killings: 4 arrested from Mumbai brought to Kolkata

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The four people arrested from Mumbai in connection with the Birbhum killings were brought back to Kolkata on Friday morning by the CBI, an official said.

    They were brought back to Kolkata on transit remand, granted by a Mumbai court till April 10, he said. “We will be taking them to Rampurhat later in the day to speed up the investigation. They will be grilled along with other accused arrested there,” the official said.

    The CBI on Thursday arrested the four persons — Bappa, Shabu, Taj Mohammad and Serajul — from Mumbai where they fled to following the massacre in Rampurhat’s Bogtui village on March 21.

    These were the first arrests made by the central agency after taking over the probe. Nine people died of burn injuries after their houses in Bogtui were allegedly firebombed following the murder of local TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh.

    The CBI took over the investigation of the case, following an order of the Calcutta High Court. The agency at present has the custody of at least 10 people who were arrested by the police in connection with the killings. Among them is then TMC block president Anarul Hossain.

  • Panchayat official murder: Bombs buried next to home of accused in Birbhum village recovered

    By PTI

    RAMPURHAT: The police in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Sunday recovered bombs, buried next to the residence of an absconding accused in TMC panchayat official Bhadu Sheikh’s murder case, a senior officer said.

    A team of police officers, accompanied by a bomb squad, unearthed the explosives that were kept in a drum and buried beside Palash Sheikh’s house in Bogtui village. The squad then defused the bombs on a vacant piece of land, the senior police officer said.

    At least 10 FIRs have been filed and over 20 arrested in Bhadu Sheikh’s murder case so far. Violence had broken out in Bogtui near Rampurhat town last month following the murder, with miscreants attacking houses and setting them on fire, leaving eight people dead, including children.

    One woman succumbed to her burn injuries days after, taking the toll to nine. The massacre in the aftermath of the panchayat official’s murder is being probed by the CBI.

    CBI sleuths, during the day, spoke to locals in neighbouring Kumadda village, where a bike and two e-rickshaws (toto) that were allegedly used to carry bombs and petrol during the carnage were seized on Saturday, one of the central agency officials said.

    According to the official, forensic tests might be conducted on the seized vehicles.

  • Birbhum killings: Trinamool leader indicates infightings within ruling party

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The massacre in West Bengal’s Birbhum last week, which left nine dead, has also laid bare the fault lines in the state’s ruling camp as the party’s district president Anubrata Mondal on Thursday said that he had wanted to remove Anarul Hossain, arrested in the case, from all organisational posts, but was stopped by local MLA Ashis Banerjee.

    Last week, eight people were burnt alive, while another succumbed to her injuries later, in Bogtui village near Rampurhat town of the district in the suspected fallout of a TMC panchayat official’s murder.

    Hossain, the president of Rampurhat block-1, was arrested days after the massacre from Tarapith area in the district.

    “I was keen on removing Anarul from all organisational posts he held in the party. I had received several complaints against him. However, local MLA and state minister Ashis Banerjee requested me to retain him at least till the panchayat polls. Banerjee is a senior leader,” Mondal told reporters.

    Banerjee, on his part, said he did so keeping in mind the “interest of the organisation”.

    “I had made the request only after speaking to local leaders. It was an organisational decision,” he said.

    TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh declined to comment on the matter, stating that he would not be able to make any remark before talking to local leaders.

    The BJP, however, said such statements from TMC leaders show that the party was trying to engage in a blame game to divert attention from the issue at hand.

    “Everybody knows that Anubrata Mondal is the most powerful person in Birbhum. The kind of statements and counter statements that are coming from the TMC camp only prove that its leaders are trying to save their own skin,” state BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya added.

    In a similar vein, CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim said the TMC, instead of fighting within the party, should find out how the incident happened.

    “The TMC is now engaged in infighting, it should rather reveal who allowed this carnage to take place,” Salim added.

  • Exchange of fisticuffs at Bengal Assembly: A look at the other infamous scenes

    By PTI

    CHENNAI: The West Bengal Assembly witnessed bedlam on Monday marked by exchange of fisticuffs between TMC and BJP MLAs over the Birbhum killings, but this was not the first instance of acrimony in a House of elected representatives in the country.

    Following are the other well-known episodes of fracas involving the Treasury and Opposition benches in different states.

    Tamil Nadu, 1989: The House witnessed unruly scenes when the DMK was in the ruling saddle.

    The then Leader of Opposition, late J Jayalalithaa was allegedly attacked and humiliated by ruling party members during a debate, and her leaving the House with disheveled hair amid a security ring by party MLAs remains a stark picture in TN politics.

    Jayalalithaa vowed to return to the Assembly as Chief Minister and did so two years later.

    Tamil Nadu, 2017: During the trust vote of the K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government, pandemonium broke out inside the House and some opposition members even climbed atop the Speaker’s podium and sat on the chair, while the opposition DMK members were evicted physically.

    Then LoP and DMK chief M K Stalin and Speaker P Dhanapal said their shirts were torn in the melee.

    Maharashtra, 2009: Four MLAs of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were suspended for four years for attacking Samajwadi Party member Abu Azmi for taking his oath as a legislator in Hindi.

    As the new MLAs were being sworn in, MLAs of the Raj Thackeray-led party pounced on Azmi, who was pushed and slapped until security guards were able to rescue him and escort him out of the House.

    Thackeray had earlier appealed to MLAs to take their oath in Marathi, a veiled warning aimed at Azmi, who repeatedly asked for Hindi to be added to the language of the legislature.

    Parliament, 2021: Rajya Sabha witnessed ugly scenes as some MPs tore papers, jostled with the marshals and attempted to go near the presiding officer’s chair and some marshals were allegedly attacked, even as the House was adjourned sine die two days ahead of its scheduled end of the monsoon session in August.

    Twelve opposition MPs were subsequently suspended in connection with the incident.

    Kerala, 2015: The assembly had witnessed unprecedented scenes on March 13 as then opposition LDF members tried to prevent Finance Minister K M Mani, who was facing charges in the bar bribery scam, from presenting the state budget.

    The speaker’s chair was flung from the podium while electronic equipment like computers, keyboards and mikes on the desk of the presiding officer were also allegedly damaged.

    Uttar Pradesh, 2017: Governor Ram Naik was pelted with paper balls by the opposition during an address, the House witnessed slogan-shouting and trooping into the well by opposition members, even as an SP member blew a whistle through the 35-minute address to ensure that the governor’s voice was drowned out.

    Jammu and Kashmir, 2019: House witnessed noisy scenes during a discussion on the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), with opposition members rushing towards the chair, prompting adjournments.

    Accusing Trinamool Congress MLAs of “violently assaulting” its legislators in the West Bengal Assembly on Monday, the BJP asserted that the Centre cannot remain a “mute spectator” to the state government “flouting” constitutional norms.

    Expressing concern over the state of affairs in West Bengal, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters at Parliament House Complex that criminal and anarchic elements have “hijacked” the constitutional machinery in the state.

    Ruling TMC and opposition BJP MLAs came to blows in the Assembly as chaos erupted after the latter demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state.

    Naqvi alleged that democratic normals are being “murdered” in Bengal under the patronage of the state government and Banerjee.

    BJP MLAs were physically attacked and their clothes torn in the Assembly, he alleged.

    People had given Banerjee the mandate in the 2021 polls to make amends for her government’s mistakes but she has again let loose a reign of violence and anarchy, he said.

    To a question if the Centre could impose President’s rule in the state, Naqvi said the government will not compete with Banerjee in flouting constitutional values but will not remain a “mute spectator” either.

    Locket Chatterjee, a BJP MP from the state, also hit out at Banerjee.

    She said five BJP MLAs were assaulted on the “directions” of the chief minister but the state government wants to throttle the opposition’s voice against the killing of eight people in Birbhum.

    Other BJP leaders also attacked the TMC.

    BJP general secretary C T Ravi tweeted, “BJP MLAs were violently assaulted by unruly TMC MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly.

    Mistake of Our MLAs? They asked for a discussion on the Birbhum massacre which was executed by TMC Goons.

    What is Mamata Benerjee trying to hide from the people? Does T in TMC stand for Taliban?” Unidentified people had on March 21 set ablaze 10 houses in Birbhum, killing at least eight people, including women and children.

    BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni alleged that murders and anarchy have again started under Banerjee’s rule in the state, and the TMC government violently attacks BJP MLAs instead of discussing the “Birbhum massacre”.

    “The TMC government, murderer of democracy, should be ashamed,” he said.

    Around 25 BJP MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari walked out of the West Bengal Assembly, claiming that several party legislators were roughed up by TMC MLAs inside the House.

    Five BJP MLAs, including Adhikari, were later suspended by Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay for the entire year for their alleged unruly conduct in the House.

  • BJP trying to influence CBI probe into Birbhum killings: TMC

    The BJP has forgotten the killings in Gujarat years back. It is now shedding crocodile tears for the Bogtui incident, in which prompt action has already been taken, claimed TMC spokesperson.