Manjula Chellur, the retired Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, will lead the SIT set up by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the post-poll violence instances recorded during the state’s assembly elections.
The Calcutta High Court had already ordered a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into episodes of post-poll violence in West Bengal and an SIT in other cases in a massive defeat for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Read also: CBI files 11 cases in connection with post-poll violence in Bengal
The court also ordered the settlement of the victims to be sent promptly to their bank accounts. Meanwhile, the state government has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, contesting the Calcutta High Court’s decision.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had already convened a seven-member committee to investigate suspected post-election violence and recommended a court-supervised CBI inquiry.
Read also: Political debate erupts in Bengal over CBI probe into post-poll violence
In its current probe into the issue of violence in West Bengal after the polls on Thursday, the CBI also presented its first charge sheet. According to the prosecution, they accused two people of killing a worker in the area of Birbhum in May from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Following the announcement of assembly election results on May 2, the charge sheet presented to the Rampurhat court included the names of two suspects allegedly engaged in the murder of a BJP worker.
