CBI probe must be completed expeditiously, says TMC
Kolkata: Describing the incident of a minor girl's rape and her subsequent death in Hanskhali area of Nadia district "a ghastly crime", the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday said that the CBI probe instituted into the case must be completed in an "expeditious manner".
Addressing a press conference Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, party's Rajya Sabha MP condemned the incident and said the state government will cooperate with the CBI to nab the persons involved in the matter.
"We wish the probe gets completed at the earliest and the chargesheet submitted against the accused in the court in a time-bound manner. The guilty cannot evade punishment for this heinous crime," he said.
Ray regretted that the opposition parties, particularly the BJP, were trying to utilise the situation for political gain.
"In a bid to analyze the incident, some are making sweeping comments as if they have all the evidence. If so, then they should bring them to light and help in solving the case," Ray stated.
"The mother of the deceased had made a statement before the magistrate. How come the statement went to the opposition parties", he wondered. Ray alleged that the opposition parties are trying to malign the state government and influence the investigation by making sweeping statements.
Referring to some of the heinous crimes that had taken place during the Left Front regime he said in the 1980s Barnali Dutta, a nurse was raped and subsequently murdered and no one was arrested. Six teen Anandamarigi monks and nuns had been burnt alive in broad daylight on Bijon Setu and no one was arrested.
"Democracy has returned to Bengal after Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011," the senior TMC leader and MP maintained.
Raising questions about the impartiality of the CBI, Ray said: "Even the Chief Justice of India has questioned its impartiality and said the agency should work impartially to win the confidence of people. CBI has been described as a "caged parrot" by the Supreme Court. Again, it had been seen that its director had been removed at midnight and replaced by another person. CBI works under the PMO and to think of it as an impartial agency is nothing but a daydream," he maintained.
Maintaining that the track record of CBI is very poor, he said: "In the Netai mass killing case which took place in 2011, the CBI till today has recorded the statement of only 26 out of 116 witnesses. If this pace is followed then the agency will take another 50 years to complete the investigation and punish the criminals. Again, in the Purulia arms drop case, CBI has failed to bring Kim Devy the prime accused in India. In the Gyaneshwari rail accident case, it is not very clear to date whether it was a mere accident or sabotage," he remarked.
Ray said: "If CBI is engaged to investigate each and every case across the country then, the police of the respective states would be redundant. It will affect the country's federal structure which is the policy of the Centre."
