News Analysis India

Tag: CBI

  • Man dying after being set on fire in Sagar: MP government orders CBI probe

    By PTI

    SAGAR: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered CBI probe into the death of a 25-year-old-man who was allegedly set on fire over a relationship with a woman in Sagar district.

    The incident had taken place at Semra Laharia village on the night of September 16.

    “The chief minister has directed CBI investigation into the incident,” Sagar district collector Deepak Arya told reporters on Wednesday.

    Chouhan also told officials that the state government will bear the expenses of the treatment of the 23-year-old woman who sustained burn injuries during the incident, the collector said.

    “The CM has directed us to arrange the best possible treatment for her. She will be shifted to a private hospital,” he added.

    The man and the woman were allegedly in a relationship.

    The woman claimed that he caught fire accidentally when he was trying to set her ablaze after pouring kerosene on her at her house, and her family members tried to save both of them.

    But the man alleged in his `dying declaration’ — statement recorded before death — at a hospital in Sagar that the woman’s family had called him for a `meeting’.

    When he went there, four members of her family poured kerosene on him and set him ablaze, he claimed.

  • ‘Allegations against official serious’: CBI opposes bail plea in Delhi HC over corruption case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday opposed in the Delhi High Court a plea by its official Abhishek Tiwari, seeking bail in connection with the alleged leak of the probe agency’s preliminary inquiry report in a corruption case against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, saying the allegations are serious and his release may become detrimental to a fair investigation.

    The CBI, in its reply to Tiwari’s bail plea, said as an officer of the agency, his duty was to detect and bring to justice those who were involved in corrupt practices but he himself has been found accused of the corrupt practices.

    “The offence is thus very serious and as the petitioner (Tiwari) has the clout and knowledge regarding practices of investigation, the release of the petitioner may become detrimental to a fair and proper investigation. The offence herein is a case of corruption and more so of the fence eating the crops,” it said.

    Justice Yogesh Khanna listed the matter for further hearing on October 5.

    The CBI had registered a case against its sub-inspector Tiwari, Nagpur-based advocate Anand Daga, who was working as a lawyer for Deshmukh, and others on various allegations, including illegal gratification.

    Daga was arrested for allegedly trying to subvert the Bombay High Court-directed preliminary enquiry against Deshmukh. According to the plea, Tiwari was detained on August 30, arrested on September 1, and is in judicial custody since September 6.

    He has challenged a special CBI court’s September 8 order which had rejected his bail application. The CBI, in its reply, said the present is a case of commission of the offence to prevent an investigation into another serious offence by illegal means.

    “The present offence is committed by a police officer and a lawyer, both of whom are obliged to protect and preserve the sanctity of the legal system in India. For the same rationale to which the courts have treated custodial deaths to be the worst form of crime (as committed by those who are obliged to protect lives), the present offence must be treated as an extremely serious one for the reason of its commission and the persons who have committed it. In our criminal jurisprudence if a lawyer and the police are permitted to make ‘arrangements’ and are then let off lightly, the entire criminal jurisprudence will collapse,” it said.

    The agency said that the investigation of the case is at a preliminary stage and huge electronic evidence has been recovered during various searches and the data has been extracted which may likely point to a larger conspiracy.

    It said that release of Tiwari at this juncture would be highly counter-productive to the fair investigation and may derail the probe.

    It added that the investigation is at an initial stage and there is a likelihood that if the accused is released on bail, he may tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses, and may abscond which would be detrimental to the investigation.

    Tiwari, in his bail plea filed through advocates Meenesh Dubey and Abdhesh Chaudhary, claimed that “the petitioner is a victim of circumstances in as much as he has been made a scapegoat and victimised by his senior in the CBI in order to put undue pressure for reason best known to them whereas, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the petitioner is not involved in the alleged offence as put forth in the present criminal case”.

    The official said he has a clean and spotless service record and it was because of his integrity and uprightness that he was recommended by his seniors to the ongoing investigation relating to the former home minister of Maharashtra along with other officers.

    He alleged that he had not been allowed to perform his duty in a fearless manner for last more than one year and was always subjected to harassment and mental torture. The trial court had rejected the bail pleas of Tiwari and Daga, saying that the investigation was still inconclusive.

    A report of the preliminary enquiry (PE) purportedly giving clean chit to Deshmukh was leaked earlier causing embarrassment to the agency. The CBI started a probe into the leakage in which it emerged that findings of the PE were influenced.

    “Attempts by Anil Deshmukh’s team were in contempt of the Bombay High Court which had directed that all concerned should fully cooperate with the CBI while conducting the PE. In this case, it has appeared that Deshmukh’s team tried to subvert the PE,” the CBI had said.

    The CBI had started a PE on the orders of the Bombay High Court which had issued the direction while hearing public interest litigation on allegations of corruption against Deshmukh.

    In the FIR, the CBI had booked Deshmukh and others unidentified under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act for “attempt to obtain undue advantage for the improper and dishonest performance of public duty”.

    Allegations against Deshmukh had surfaced after the removal of Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

    He was removed after the alleged role of policeman Sachin Waze surfaced in the case of an explosive-laden SUV which was found parked outside the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Waze was arrested by the NIA.

    The FIR alleged that Deshmukh “and others” exercised undue influence over the transfer and posting of officials.

  • No senior advocate wants to appear in physical mode of hearings: SC

    A handful of senior lawyers is getting benefited from this (virtual hearing)and many young lawyers have faced difficulties because of virtual hearing, Justice Saran said.

  • Bengal violence: CBI charge sheet against six in connection with killing of man in Sitalkuchi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has charge-sheeted six people, said to be TMC workers, in connection with the killing of a man whose wife had earlier blamed “BJP goons” for the murder during post-poll violence at Sitalkuchi in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, officials said on Tuesday.

    The CBI has filed the charge sheet against Tahidul Mia, Haridas Barman, Madan Barman, Naba Kumar Barman, Shyamal Barman and Arabindo Barman in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Cooch Behar, they said.

    The wife of the deceased had claimed that her family was a Trinamool Congress supporter.

    Alpana Maitra Barman had alleged in an FIR that on May 3 her husband Manik Maitra was beaten up with iron rods by “BJP goons”.

    She had alleged that the goons had shot her husband in the belly and he succumbed to the injuries at a hospital.

    Alpana had claimed that filing of the FIR got delayed by two days as she was engaged in the last rites of her husband.

    The CBI has taken over the cases after a five-judge bench of Calcutta High Court on August 19 entrusted the agency with investigations into the alleged murder and rape incidents reported during post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    The HC’s directions came after the National Human Rights Commission submitted a report on the violence in the state after the Assembly election results were announced on May 2, declaring an astounding victory for the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress humbling the BJP in a bitterly fought eight-phase electoral battle.

  • SC notice to Centre on Bengal plea against HC order for CBI probe into post-poll violence

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: West Bengal has “made out” a case for issuance of notices, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while seeking responses from the Centre and others on the state government’s appeal against the Calcutta High Court order directing court-monitored CBI probe into the heinous cases of rape and murder during the post-poll violence there.

    The apex court refused however to accede to the state’s submission that the CBI be directed, in an interim order, not to register any fresh case, saying as per the principle of natural justice no such order be passed without hearing the other side.

    A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose disagreed with the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal that the top court should record that the fate of CBI probe in the cases would depend on the outcome of the state’s appeal in the top court.

    “That is always there, we do not need to say this. Moreover, we are posting it after one week and nothing will happen,” the bench observed.

    “We think you (Sibal) have made out the case for issuance of the notices. Let the other side come and file the response. We will hear out the case one day before the vacation,” it said and fixed the case for next hearing on October 7.

    The Mamata Banerjee-led government is aggrieved by the high court verdict.

    A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI investigation into all the alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the assembly poll results this year, in which the ruling TMC came back to power, after accepting the recommendations of an NHRC panel.

    As regards other criminal cases related to post-poll violence, the high court had directed that they be probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the monitoring of the court.

    The high court verdict came on PILs which had alleged that people were assaulted, made to flee homes and properties were destroyed during the violence in the wake of the assembly elections and sought an impartial probe into the incidents.

    At the outset, Sibal raised issues related to federalism, selection of some members of the Human Rights panel who were entrusted with the preliminary probe into post-poll violence cases and the fact that administration and law and order were in the hands of the poll panel during the continuation of the poll process.

    The law and order was under the superintendence of the Election Commission during May 2 to May 5 this year and the definition of ‘post-poll violence’ was stretched and even ordinary crimes were brought under its ambit, Sibal said.

    “The Chief Minister took oath on May 5. Your Lordships will have to decide what do you mean by post poll violence,” he said.

    “They said there was inaction on part of the state. What happens is this is flashed all over the country, there is a matter of reputation of the state as well. You do not give us an opportunity, castigate us and pass the order,” the senior lawyer said while assailing the high court order.

    The high court proceeded on an assumption that the entire police force of West Bengal “cannot be trusted” and there was no factual basis to support this, he said.

    The state government was not given adequate opportunity and time to respond to several complaints related to criminal offences, he said, adding that scrutiny of cases had taken months in the Muzaffarnagar riots cases.

    The senior lawyer alleged that at least three members of the six-member fact finding panel of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had “open affiliation” to the party ruling at the Centre and hence there is “an apprehension of bias”.

    The NHRC panel did not follow the proper procedure prescribed under the law, he alleged.

    “The principle evolved is that transfer of the case has to be done on the case-to-case basis. You cannot say I have received 100 complaints and will transfer them without analysing the facts and hence there cannot be en-masse transfer,” Sibal said.

    After Sibal outlined his submissions, the bench said that it was prima facie convinced that the notice can be issued and it will be better if the entire case is argued after another side appears and responds.

    Earlier, the state had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order directing the court-monitored CBI investigation into all cases of rape and murder during the post poll violence in the state after accepting the recommendations of an NHRC panel.

    The high court had observed that there were “definite and proved” allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered.

    Besides CBI probe, the high court had ordered an SIT to probe all other cases and it included Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre.

    “All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation,” it had said.

    The high court has also directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on a direction by the five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to immediately hand over the records of the cases to the CBI to carry forward the probe.

    The bench had said it will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.

    It had said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent.

    In its ruling, the bench had said heinous crimes such as murder and rape “deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation”.

    The state failed to register FIRs even in some cases of alleged murder, the bench had said, adding, “This shows a pre-determined mind to take the investigation into a particular direction.

    Under such circumstances investigation by independent agency will inspire confidence to all concerned”.

    The facts in relation to the allegations made in the PILs are “even more glaring” as the incidents are not isolated to one place in the state, it said.

    The NHRC committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court.

    An interim report of the NHRC committee had mentioned that its member Atif Rasheed was obstructed from discharging duty and he and his team members were attacked on June 29 in Jadavpur area on the southern fringe of the city, the court noted.

  • Anand Giri, two others accused of abetting Akhara chief suicide sent to CBI custody

    By PTI

    ALLAHABAD: Swami Anand Giri and two others, arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide by Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad president Narendra Giri last week, were on Monday remanded to the CBI custody for seven days by an Allahabad court.

    The three, including Bade Hanuman Temple priest Adya Prasad Tiwari and his son Sandeep, were remanded to the CBI custody by Chief Judicial Magistrate Harendra Nath.

    District prosecution counsel Gulab Chandra Agrahari said CJM Nath sent the trio to the CBI custody after hearing the agency’s remand application with the three accused joining the court proceeding from the Naini jail, where they have been lodged since their arrests, through video conference.

    The CBI remand for the three will start at 9 am on September 28 and last till 5 pm on October 4, he added.

    Narendra Giri was found hanging from the ceiling of his room in Shri Baghambari Gaddi under the Geoge Town police station area.

    In his suicide note, the deceased had named the three, accusing them of mentally harassing him, following which the police had lodged an FIR under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code on charges of abetting the suicide.

    The Uttar Pradesh police had arrested Anand Giri and Adya Tiwari the very next day on September 21 after the Akhara Parishad chief was found dead in his room.

    The third accused and Tiwari’s son Sandeep was arrested on September 22 and all three of them were remanded to judicial custody after their arrests.

    The CBI took the probe into the case on the Uttar Pradesh government’s recommendation.

  • Mahant suicide case: CBI begins probe, war of succession likely to intensify at Baghambari Muthh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) commenced the probe into the alleged suicide case of Mahant Narendra Giri by filing an FIR on Friday after taking over the case from Prayagraj police on Thursday.

    Mahant Narendra Giri, president, Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), was found dead in mysterious circumstances at Shri Baghambari Muthh on Monday evening.

    While three persons, including late Manaht’s disciple Anand Giri, head priest of Bade Hanumanji temple Adya Tiwari and Tiwari’s son Sandip have already been arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody in connection with late seer’s alleged suicide, the preliminary autopsy report revealed that the Mahant died of asphyxia due to hanging.

    All the three accused were arrested by the Prayagraj police on Tuesday following the suicide note recovered from the room where the body of the Mahant was found hanging. In the suicide note, the late Mahant had held all the three responsible for pushing him towards committing suicide.

    The Mahant had also named Mahant Balbir Giri as his successor in the alleged suicide note.

    The state government had recommended a CBI probe into the case on late Wednesday night and the officials of the central probe agency lodged the FIR on Friday.

    ALSO READ | Centre approves CBI probe into death of Mahant Narendra Giri

    Meanwhile, the war of succession in Shri Muthh Baghmbari Gaddi is likely to intensify as three wills done at different times by late Mahant Narendra Giri have surfaced.

    On the contrary, the Niranjani Akhara, to which the late seer belonged, and the ABAP both have rejected the suicide theory and the suicide note as well. They even postponed the appointment of Mahant’s successor to September 25.

    As per the highly informed sources, Mahant Narendra Giri had done three wills in the capacity of the head of Shri Muthh Baghambari Gaddi.

    Mahant’s advocate Rishishankar Dwivedi, who had got all the three wills registered, said that the first will was done by the late Mahant on January 7, 2010. In this will, Mahant Narendra Giri had mentioned Balbir Giri as his successor.

    Cancelling the first will, the second will was done by the Mahant on August 29, 2011. “In the second will, Mahantji replaced the name of his successor with his disciple Anand Giri. Anand Giri was supposed to be very close to Mahant Narendra Giri at that time,” said Dwivedi.

    However, cancelling both the prior wills, the late Mahant made his third will on June 4, 2020, in which he again nominated Mahant Balbir Giri as his successor, said advocate Dwivedi.

    According to the lawyer, the appointment of successor at Shri Muthh Baghamabri Gaddi is always done on the basis of the will left by the preceding head. “Even Mahant Narendra Giri was appointed the head of Baghambari Gaddi on the basis of the will left behind by his predecessor,” said Dwivedi.

    As a result of the emergence of the third will, now the Niranjani Akhara and ABAP will have a limited say in the appointment of the successor of the late Mahant Narendra Giri.

  • ISRO case: Maldives women urge CBI to place their damages claim before Supreme Court

    By PTI

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two Maldives nationals, who were also arrested along with scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO spy case, have moved the CBI requesting it to place before the Supreme Court their claim for damages of Rs 2 crore from each of the 18 officers who are arrayed as accused in the conspiracy case being probed by the agency.

    The two women — Mariyam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hasan — have made the request to CBI as the agency has registered a case against the 18 officers, which includes Intelligence Bureau officials, for various offences which include criminal conspiracy and kidnapping and fabrication of evidence, under the IPC, in connection with the arrest and detention of Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case.

    The women have urged the agency to place their claim for damages before the apex court when it hears CBI’s appeal against a Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four accused – former DGP of Gujarat, two former police officers of Kerala, and a retired intelligence official – in the conspiracy case being probed by the agency.

    The agency, in its appeal has sought cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to the four accused by the high court on August 13.

    The high court, while granting the relief to the accused, had said,” There is not even a scintilla of evidence regarding the petitioners being influenced by any foreign power so as to induce them to hatch a conspiracy to falsely implicate the scientists of the ISRO with the intention to stall the activities of the ISRO with regard to the development of the cryogenic engine.”

    Advocate Prasad Gandhi, who represented the two women in their pleas before the Kerala High Court and a Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram, opposing grant of any relief to the accused in the conspiracy case, told PTI that they have urged the CBI to place their claim for damages before the apex court when it hears the appeal.

    Gandhi said that such a claim can only be raised by them through the agency and the women cannot directly approach the apex court for relief.

    The women are seeking the damages for the mental and physical torture as well as monetary loss suffered by them during their more than three-year long incarceration in a prison here in the espionage case.

    They have claimed that they were not spies and were falsely implicated in the matter after one of them — Mariyam Rasheeda — denied the advances of one of officers of the SIT which was investigating the espionage case back then.

    The Supreme Court had, on April 15, ordered that the report of the committee, appointed by it, on the role of erring police officials in the espionage case relating to Narayanan be given to the CBI and directed it to conduct further investigations into the issue.

    The committee was appointed by the apex court to look into the allegations against the police officers in the spying case.

    The espionage case pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on the space programme of India to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including the two Maldivians.

    The CBI, in its probe at that time, had held that top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanan’s arrest which the agency said was illegal.

    The case had a political fallout too, with a section in the Congress party targeting the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran, who is now dead, over the issue that eventually led to his resignation.

  • Bombay HC asks CBI to file reply to bail plea of prime accused in Narendra Dabholkar killing

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and directed it to file a reply to the bail plea of Virendrasingh Tawade, a prime accused in the 2013 case of killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.

    A bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar directed the CBI to file its reply within two weeks.

    The central agency had arrested Tawade in 2016 and said in its charge-sheet that he was one of the masterminds of the conspiracy to kill the rationalist.

    Tawade, lodged in Pune’s Yerwada Jail under judicial custody, approached the HC for bail earlier this year.

    Last week, a special court in Pune framed charges against Tawade and three co-accused for the offence of murder under the IPC and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

    The fifth accused in the case, Sanjeev Punalekar, faces charges under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of the evidence or giving false inform to screen offender).

    The HC will hear the bail plea further on October 13.

    Dabholkar, who headed the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, an anti-superstition outfit, was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013.

  • Shocking things happening in state, cases being ‘en masse’ transferred to CBI: Bengal government tells SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government Monday alleged before the Supreme Court that “shocking things” have happened in the state and cases were being transferred “en masse” to CBI including the dacoity cases.

    Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told a bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that whenever there is an allegation that a probe is not being carried fairly, the court takes the facts into account and then transfers the case to CBI after a prima facie conclusion.

    “In this case, en masse the cases were given to the CBI. Some of the most shocking things have happened. In one case, the man is alive. In the meantime, CBI is also investigating dacoity cases. All kinds of things are happening,” Sibal told the bench.

    The top court was hearing a special leave petition filed by the state government alleging that it did not expect fair and just investigation by the central agency which is busy foisting cases against the functionaries of ruling Trinamool Congress Party.

    As the hearing commenced, Sibal told the top court that he would need two-three hours to make submissions but the bench said that it won’t be able to hear the matter today due to lack of time and would take it up next week.

    “By consent of the learned counsel for the parties, list on September 28, 2021 as a first case. The parties are permitted to file documents/additional documents by September 24, 2021 after serving the copy of the same on the other side,” the bench said.

    Earlier, the state government had cast aspersions on the members of a committee formed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate the incidents of post-poll violence in the state.

    The state government had said that the panel chief Rajiv Jain has served as Director of the Intelligence Bureau under the BJP-led government at the Centre.

    It had also said that “Jain was subsidiary intelligence bureau chief, Ahmedabad from 2005 to 2008 when the honourable Prime Minister was the chief minister of Gujarat.”

    Contending about another member, Sibal had said that Atif Rasheed served as Delhi State Prabhari BJP Minority Morcha and still tweets in support of BJP.

    “Can you imagine these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this a BJP investigating committee my Lords?” Sibal had said.

    Commenting on Sibal’s submission, the bench said, “If somebody had a political past and if he lands up in an official position by that very fact will we treat him to be biased?”

    Earlier, lawyer Anindya Sundar Das, one of the PIL petitioners on whose plea the High Court August 19 verdict came, had filed a caveat in the apex court urging that no order be passed without hearing him if the state or other litigant move appeals.

    A five-judge bench of the High Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, had ordered a CBI investigation into all alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the assembly poll results this year in which the ruling TMC came back to power.

    As regards other criminal cases related to post-poll violence, the high court had directed that they be investigated by a Special Investigation Team under the monitoring of the court.

    The high court bench, which also comprised justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, had observed that there were “definite and proved” allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered.

    Ordering the setting up of an SIT to probe all other cases, it had said that it will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre.

    “All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation,” it had said.

    The high court has also directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on a direction by the five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to immediately hand over the records of the cases to the CBI to carry forward the probe.

    The bench had said it will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.

    It had said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent.

    In its ruling, the bench had said heinous crimes such as murder and rape “deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation”.

    The bench had said the state failed to register FIRs even in some cases of alleged murder.

    “This shows a pre-determined mind to take the investigation into a particular direction,” it had said.

    “Under such circumstances investigation by an independent agency will inspire confidence in all concerned,” it had noted.

    It had said allegations that the police had not registered a number of cases initially and that some were registered only after the court had intervened or the committee was constituted were found to be true.

    It had observed that the facts in relation to the allegations made in the PILs are “even more glaring” as the incidents are not isolated to one place in the state.

    The NHRC committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court.

    An interim report of the NHRC committee had mentioned that Atif Rasheed, a member of the committee, was obstructed from discharging his duty and he and his team members were attacked by some undesirable elements on June 29 in Jadavpur area on the southern fringe of the city, the court noted.

    The PILs had alleged that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes and properties were destroyed during the violence in the wake of the assembly elections and sought impartial probe into the incidents.