Sitalkuchi: Jobs given to kin of dead

Kolkata: Stating that next to the kin of the five victims of Sitalkuchi have been offered jobs of Home Guards, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee maintained that she feels there was some "mischief" behind the incident of firing by the CISF, killing innocent villagers.

In reply to a question regarding the "hasty report" of the then Superintendent of Police of Cooch Behar Debasish Dhar in connection with the firing by the CISF, Banerjee said: "CID is probing the incident. We will get to know the details after receiving the reports. Let us wait and see what the investigation reveals. But I feel that there was some mischief." She further stated that their family members were provided with financial support of Rs 5 lakh each and jobs of Home Guards have also been offered to the next of kin of the deceased. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has formed a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Sitalkuchi firing incident. The SIT will be led by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), CID (Special) Kalyan Mukhopadhyay. David Ivan Lepcha, who is the Special Superintendent of CID at Siliguri, will be second in command of the SIT.

After the formation of the SIT, the investigating officer of the case Malay Ghosh has been asked to appear before the SIT members. Sources informed that soon the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of Mathabhanga will also be asked to appear before the SIT.

Meanwhile on Wednesday night K Kannan has been posted as the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Cooch Behar replacing Debasish Dhar who has been suspended. On April 10, four persons were allegedly shot dead by the Central force personnel at Jorpatki area in Sitalkuchi. While the villagers alleged that the Central force fired without any provocation, the on-duty Central force personnel claimed that they had to fire in self-defence.