West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, 27 March, said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would protest if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) followed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 'diktats' while probing the Birbhum massacre, where eight people were charred to death in retaliation for a local TMC leader's murder.
She also said there was a conspiracy behind the killings of the eight people.
“I still think there is a conspiracy behind the Rampurhat incident. It was a good decision to hand over the probe to the CBI. But if they only follow BJP’s diktats, we will be ready to protest," she said while addressing an event at Bagdogra in north Bengal.
“We have seen in past instances, including the probe into the theft of Tagore’s Nobel Prize, the Netai incident and the Tapasi Malik case, that the CBI failed to provide justice. Rather it was the Special Investigation Team that conducted a better investigation,” she added.
Banerjee, who is on a six-day tour of north Bengal, also said that only the TMC was being criticised everywhere despite its party worker having been killed by another party's worker.
"A Trinamool worker was killed by another party worker. But only TMC is being criticised everywhere. We have taken several steps to investigate the matter and know the original cause of the Rampurhat incident," she said while addressing an event at Bagdogra in north Bengal.
Banerjee also said that incidents similar to Birbhum had taken place in several other states in the past and that the TMC never stopped other political parties from reaching the spot of the incident.
"Many such incidents have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tripura, and Assam. Our party workers were not allowed to reach the incident site, but in Birbhum, we never stopped any political party," she added.
CBI Names 21 Suspects in FIR
Meanwhile, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team on Sunday named 21 suspects in its First Information Report (FIR) filed over the massacre. The agency also questioned TMC's block president Anarul Hossain and brought ten of the accused, including Hossain, to the CBI camp for questioning, reported ANI.
The CBI will also visit a hospital on Sunday to interact with those injured in the violence, an official of the agency said, reported PTI. The CBI will also talk to local people and fire brigade officials in connection with the probe.
The central agency, which took over investigations into the case from the the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the West Bengal government, said that preliminary evidence suggests the violence was a possible act of revenge.
According to the report, the CBI stated that prima facie, the violence appeared to be in response to the murder of Bhadu Sheikh – a TMC Panchayat leader on whom crude bombs were dropped by unknown assailants.
On Friday, 25 March, the Calcutta High Court had said that it was ordering the CBI to take over the case.
Following the court's directive, a forensic team of the CBI arrived at the violence-torn village to begin their investigation into the matter.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)