Calcutta High Court orders CBI probe into Birbhum killings

The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI investigation into Birbhum violence that claimed eight lives earlier this week.

The court directed an SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a progress report by April 7, the next date of hearing of the matter.

The bench said that the CBI probe was being ordered in the interest of justice.

Eight people, including two children, were charred to death in Bogtui village of Bengal's Birbhum district in the suspected fallout of a TMC panachayat official's murder.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the suspects would be hunted down if they did not surrender. Battling a furious political backlash over the savage killings and accused by the opposition BJP of condoning political violence, the Chief Minister also alleged that "something big" was behind the incident.

The Chief Minister has indicated she is wary of her rivals politicising the incident. Ms Banerjee and the BJP-led centre has long been fighting on several fronts and the latest incident may just open up another front.

The bench had suo motu taken up the case of the gruesome incident.

A set of PILs seeking CBI or NIA probe into the incident were also taken up for hearing by the court along with the suo motu petition.