A Division Bench Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj today directed the CBI to investigate the Bagtui massacre in which eight persons, including women and children were killed.

The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) was directed to place its preliminary report before the court by 7 April. Having “minutely studied the case diary”, the court found that though the SIT was formed on 22 March, till date there is no effective contribution of the SIT in the investigation as was expected keeping in view the gravity of the offence.

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The details of the lacuna of the investigation are not being mentioned as it may prejudice the interest of the parties, the court said.Though the state advocate general has refuted the allegation against ADG (CID) Gyanwant Singh in the murder of Rizwanur Rehman, it is undisputed that an allegation was made against him, the court observed. Gyanwant Singh was heading the SIT.

In the interest of justice and to install confidence of the society and to have a fair investigation to dig out the truth, it is necessary to hand over the investigation to the CBI, the court said. The CBI was directed to forthwith take over the investigation. Expeditious steps are required to be taken to hand over the investigation to an independent investigation agency because there is an allegation of an attempt to wipe off evidence, the court observed.

The court took note of the fact that the additional solicitor general has no difficulty in the CBI doing the investigation. The SIT set up by the state government will henceforth have nothing to do with the investigation into the Bagtui incident, and neither the state police nor the SIT will not carry out any further investigation from the time the case is handed over to the CBI, it was directed. The case diary and other documents together with the accused and suspects who were arrested in the matter and are in custody were directed to be handed over to the central agency.

According to the state Director-General of Police (DGP), Manoj Malviya, 11 arrests have been made in the case so far. These include TMC leader Anarul Hussein, said to be the main accused in the incident, who was picked up following instructions from chief minister. The opposition parties in the state welcomed the court’s ruling.

“Everyone demanded CBI inquiry. Everyone knows that Mamata Banerjee constituted SIT to suppress the case. Innocent people are murdered there but she is not accepting her government’s failure,” BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said.

CPI-M state secretary, Md Salim said the probe led by the central agency must be monitored by the court to ensure the investigation does not get derailed. Meanwhile, the MHA has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the arson incident. The move came after a nine-member delegation of BJP MPs from Bengal met Union home minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention.