The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered nine cases over the the post-election violence in West Bengal, sources told news agency PTI on Thursday, 26 August.
Further, the sources claimed that more cases are being registered, some of which are being handled over by the state government.
The four special CBI units tasked with probing the nine cases have transferred their units to crime scenes all across West Bengal, PTI reported.
A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court had directed the investigative agency to probe cases of alleged rape and murder reported in the state after its Assembly elections results on 2 May. This had come after a National Human Rights Commission committee submitted a report on the violence.
The HC bench, upon hearing a collection of PILs that sought an independent probe into the matter, also ordered an SIT of state police officers to investigate all other cases.
West Bengal cadre officers Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra, and Ranveer Kumar constituted the SIT.
Further, the court ordered both agencies – the CBI and the SIT – to submit their status reports within six weeks, PTI reported.
The bench also underlined certain allegations which have come forward, stating that the complainants are being pressured to withdraw their cases, and several cases of alleged murder are being written off as natural deaths, PTI reported.
The judgment, which came three months after the violence was first asserted, read "No concrete action has been taken by the state, which could inspire confidence, except filing affidavits and placing on record thousands of papers."
It also noted that the state police has sought to downplay the allegations of inaction in the matter.
(With inputs from PTI)
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