West Bengal Ram Navami Violence: Calcutta High Court Orders Probe By NIA

The division bench presided by Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam passed the order while responding to a PIL filed by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari regarding the Ram Navami violence.

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered an NIA investigation into the violence in Shibpur in the Howrah district of West Bengal during Ram Navami celebrations. The division bench, presided by Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in this regard.

Calcutta High Court transfers the probe in the violence that broke out during Ram Navami in Howrah and Dalkhola districts and other parts of West Bengal to the NIA pic.twitter.com/11R0WVJAlg — ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2023

The bench directed the transfer of the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the West Bengal Police. In his PIL, Adhikari had sought an NIA probe into the violence, during which it was alleged that bombs exploded.

The court directed the state police to transfer all records and CCTV footage relating to the matter to the central government within two weeks. The Centre was directed to send the documents to the NIA thereafter.

The NIA had informed the Calcutta High Court on April 10  that they will have no problem in taking over the probe on this count if the court permits. The division bench of the Calcutta High Court observed that it is beyond the ability of the state police to find those who were responsible for the clashes or who instigated it and hence a probe by a central agency was necessary.

Justice Sivagnanam also raised questions about the suspension of Internet services in the troubled belts after the clashes. "In such clashes, the Internet services cannot be suspended. Such events keep the people tense," he observed.

The division bench had earlier questioned the efficiency of the intelligence wing of the state police regarding the pelting of stones from the roofs of residences in the troubled belts. The bench questioned the failure of the intelligence in gathering information about stones being accumulated on the rooftops.