HC Division Bench dismisses Justice Mantha’s order for CBI probe, reposes faith on SIT

Kolkata: Keeping faith in the state police, the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed the order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Raju Jha murder case.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam mentioned that the affidavit of the state was not gone through by the Single Bench while passing the order. Thus, the order was dismissed and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the East Burdwan Police was asked to continue with the investigation.

On June 14, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha had directed the CBI to complete the probe within four months and submit a report before the court. He also instructed the state to hand over the case-related documents, including the case diary, to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the CBI promptly.

At the hearing, Justice Mantha had mentioned that Jha was not an accused in the coal scam case but he was accompanied by Abdul Latif who is an accused in the cattle smuggling case and was able to escape the attack. It is suspected that both cases are connected to each other. Jha was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for interrogation in connection with the coal scam case.

He was shot dead by a group of miscreants in Shaktigarh, in front of a sweets shop, on April 1 while he was sitting beside the driver’s seat. The miscreants had used a blue-coloured hatchback, which was later abandoned near Shaktigarh Police Station by them. During the probe, it was discovered that they had used five fake registration plates of the same colour and model to deceive the police.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the murder case, which resulted in the arrest of several individuals.

The police also determined that the blue hatchback used in the murder had been stolen from Delhi.