Conspiracy behind Birbhum killings, says Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that her party, the Trinamool Congress, would protest if the CBI followed the “diktats of the BJP” while investigating the killing of eight people following a local TMC leader’s murder in Birbhum. 

Addressing an event at Bagdogra in north Bengal, Banerjee claimed “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 added: “We have seen in past instances, including the probe into the theft of [Rabindranath] 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.”

The Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the CBI to investigate the killings in Birbhum’s Bogtui village, where eight people were burnt alive earlier this week, and submit its preliminary report on April 7, when the matter will be heard again. The court directed the state government “to extend full cooperation to CBI in carrying out the further investigation”.

Talking about the incident, Banerjee, who is on a six-day tour of north Bengal, said: “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 to know the original cause 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 site of the incident in many cases. But in Birbhum, we never stopped any political party from visiting the place.”

The CBI has named 22 people as accused in thek, in the killings. The list of accused is the same as that of the state police, sources said. The agency, however, has questioned the ruling TMC’s block president, Anarul Hossain, who Banerjee had promised would be arrested.