CBI files FIR in TMC leader’s 11-year-old murder case

TMC leader Tapan Dutta was shot dead in 2011 for allegedly speaking up against illegal landfilling and construction in Howrah

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday registered an FIR in connection with its probe into the 11-year-old murder case of TMC leader Tapan Dutta, an official of the central agency said.

The move came after the Calcutta High Court directed that the investigation into the case be transferred to the CBI from the state CID.

Soon after getting the documents and the copies of the FIR from the state CID, the CBI filed the case under various sections of the IPC, the official said.

Dutta was shot dead in 2011 for allegedly speaking up against illegal landfilling and construction in Howrah.

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In his judgement last month, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha observed that a fair and effective investigation may indeed open a can of worms or expose any likely role of influential persons.

He had ruled that the CBI may, in its discretion, conduct further investigation, as it deems necessary.

Petitioner Protima Dutta, the wife of the deceased, had moved the high court seeking transfer of investigation to an independent agency.

The court noted that Dutta, who was a prominent member of the ruling TMC, had started agitation against illegal filling up of water bodies in the Bally-Jagacha area in Howrah.

The petitioner had named several people, including state minister Arup Roy, for allegedly being responsible for the death of her husband, the court noted.

However, charges were framed only against some of them.

The investigation was in the past transferred by the state government from the Bally Police Station to the CID.

The sessions court in Howrah, in its judgement on January 7, 2015, had acquitted five accused persons in the case, stating that it found the process of investigation dissatisfactory.