By PTI
KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Jhalda police station in Purulia district to produce the case diary and a progress report on its investigation into the murder of Congress councillor Tapan Kandu.
Hearing a petition by Kandu’s wife Purnima, seeking a CBI investigation into the killing of her husband, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed that the case diary and the progress report be submitted on April 1, the next date of hearing of the matter.
The petitioner alleged that the Jhalda police station had refused to lodge an FIR against some persons over her husband’s murder and thereafter she filed the complaint with the superintendent of police of Purulia district, which was kept for consideration.
In the meantime, the Jhalda Police registered an FIR against unknown persons in this matter, the court noted.
Kaustav Bagchi, the lawyer for the petitioner, submitted that Kandu was being pressured by the officer-in-charge of Jhalda police station to shift his allegiance from the Congress after the Jhalda municipality elections returned a hung result with the Congress and the TMC winning equal number of seats.
Both Kandu and his wife won in the Jhalda municipality elections from two different wards as Congress candidates.
Justice Mantha observed that the court prima facie finds that the Jhalda Police might have been in violation of dicta of the Supreme Court over registering a complaint and probing the matter.
“However, unless the progress of investigation is ascertained, it would be premature to form any opinion on the main prayer made in the writ petition for transfer of the investigation from the State Police to CBI,” the court observed.
