Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday sought the video- recording of the post-mortem of March 2022 Bogtui carnage prime accused Lalan Sheikh, who died mysteriously in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody on December 12.
As the matter was being heard by a single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta, CBI counsel expressed doubts over the contents of the post-mortem report of Lalan Sheikh’s body. He claimed that although no wound was detected on the body of the victim before the autopsy, the inquest report mentioned some superficial bruises on the body.
Counsel also claimed that the names of the central agency sleuths were deliberately dragged in the investigation on Lalan Sheikh’s death conducted by the West Bengal Police’s CID.
In his counter-argument, the state government counsel argued that it was the CBI who declared Lalan Sheikh’s death as suicide even before the preliminary investigation was conducted and the post-mortem examination was done.
Thereafter, Justice Sengupta questioned whether the FIR naming CBI officers in the matter was a trap to restrict the movement of the central agency officers in the state, and directed the state government to submit the video recording of the post-mortem examination to the court.
He also advised the counsel of Lalan Sheikh’s family to keep in mind that several people were killed in the Bogtui carnage in March last year.
The CBI has challenged the state police’s FIR in the Calcutta High Court claiming it to be motivated as it named Sushanta Bhattacharya, the investigation officer in the cattle-smuggling scam and having no connection with the separate central agency team probing the Bogtui carnage.
There was a demand for a second post-mortem of Lalan Sheikh’s body at a Central government-run hospital in the state. However, it could not happen following objections from his wife.
–IANS