Apex court refuses to halt NIA probe in Beldanga violence

Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a Calcutta High Court order declining to stay the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe into the violence that took place in Beldanga in Murshidabad district in January this year.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed a plea filed by the West Bengal government challenging the High Court’s refusal to stay the investigation. The court observed that the High Court had taken a “balanced view” in the matter.

The High Court had also declined to stay an order of the City Sessions Court at Bichar Bhawan, Kolkata, which directed that the case materials related to the incident be handed over to the NIA.

Appearing for the state government, senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay argued that transferring the materials to the NIA was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s February 11 order. That order had directed the High Court to examine whether the materials on record justified invoking provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which forms the basis for the NIA investigation since it is a scheduled offence under the NIA Act.

However, the Bench noted that without access to the case diary and investigation records, the NIA would not be able to comply with the court’s earlier directions.

Justice Bagchi observed that examining the materials collected by the State police was necessary to determine whether UAPA provisions were attracted. The court found no conflict between the trial court’s direction to transfer the records and the Supreme Court’s earlier order.

The Bench dismissed the State’s challenge but requested the Calcutta High Court to proceed with the matter according to its scheduled hearing. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra appeared for the respondents.