Birbhum Killings: CBI Arrests 4 From Mumbai, Submits Report in Calcutta HC

The CBI has also appealed to a Rampurhat court for permission for a polygraph test on the eight accused.

The charred bodies of eight people were recovered from Rampurhat in Birbhum district after nearly 10-12 houses were set ablaze, the police said.

(Photo: PTI)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested four people from Mumbai in connection with the violence in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Thursday, 7 April.

As per the central agency, the accused, whose identities has not yet been revealed, had fled to Mumbai fearing arrest after the case was handed over to the CBI.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 7 April, took CBI's 22-page preliminary report in the investigation into the violence, on record.

Eight people were charred to death on 21 March, in retaliation to the murder of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh.

The court reserved its order in a batch of pleas seeking a CBI probe into the murder of Sheikh as well.

A day earlier, the CBI had appealed to a court in Birbhum’s Rampurhat for permission for a polygraph test on the eight accused, including arrested TMC leader Anarul Hossain.

The polygraph test is a procedure through which physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity are measured when a person is responding to a series of questions.

The Rampurhat court will hear the CBI plea on the polygraph test on Friday in the presence of all the eight persons.

Soumen Banerjee, a defence lawyer, was quoted as saying, “The CBI sought permission for a polygraph test for eight persons, including a minor. Anarul was not present in the courtroom on Wednesday and so we appealed to the court to hear the appeal in the presence of all eight persons. The court allowed the hearing of the plea on 8 April,” The Telegraph reported.

On Wednesday, the CBI had produced 18 out of 21 persons arrested in the carnage case in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Souvik Dey, who sent all of them to 14 days of judicial custody after rejecting their bail plea.

Primarily, the CBI suspects that eight persons, including Anarul and prime accused Azad Chowdhury, lied during interrogation.

“The role of all the eight persons is very important... We want to double-check the information they shared during interrogation,” a CBI source was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, a senior advocate in Calcutta High Court, said, “In my view, going for such a test indicates the incapability of the investigating agency. The duty of the agency is to use its intelligence to pull out information... the polygraph test is the easiest method."

(With inputs from The Telegraph.)