Bengal CID trying to implicate BJP leaders in Shukla murder, party tells Governor

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged earlier than West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday that the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is attempting to implicate leaders from the social gathering within the Manish Shukla homicide probe.

A BJP workforce led by nationwide vice-president Mukul Roy met Dhankhar within the afternoon on the Raj Bhawan and mentioned the CID probe was not transferring in the proper course.

Manish Shukla, 39, an outgoing councillor of the Titagarh municipality in North 24 Parganas district was gunned down by motorcycle-borne hitmen on the evening of October 4. Five folks have been arrested until Saturday however the CID and state authorities have to this point made no official assertion on the investigation. Police have additionally seized some firearms and three bikes.

“I have had personal experience with CID probes in Bengal. I have seen several cases in the past. CID investigations in Bengal never go in the right direction. We have reasons to believe that the CID is trying to implicate BJP leaders,” mentioned Roy, who was a Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha member until 2017 when he left the ruling social gathering and joined the BJP.

“BJP delegation led by National Vice President Mukul Roy @MukulR_Official demanded CBI investigation in the politically targeted killing of Manish Shukla. The delegation alleged CID @MamataOfficial was misdirecting investigation to falsely implicate political opponents in BJP,” tweeted Dhankhar after he met the BJP leaders.

Shukla, too, was a turncoat. He joined the BJP from the TMC after the saffron social gathering gained 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. One of those seats is Barrackpore, of which Titagarh is a component.

Barrackpore’s BJP MP Arjun Singh, who additionally switched camp from the TMC in 2018, has accused the chairpersons of two civic our bodies within the district and TMC lawmaker from Panihati, Nirmal Das, of masterminding the homicide with the assistance of some law enforcement officials.

“I do not want to react to what a strongman like Singh says. The police will get to the truth,” mentioned Das.

The detective division of Barrackpore police is helping the CID within the investigation. The police wish to query a person lodged at Nalanda jail in Bihar, mentioned an officer linked with the probe.

In Shukla’s homicide, 9 folks have been named within the First Information Report (FIR) on the premise of the grievance lodged by his father Chandramani Shukla. The outgoing chairman of Barrackpore municipality, Uttam Das and his counterpart in Titagarh municipality, Prashanta Choudhury, have been named within the grievance.

The two TMC leaders have denied the allegation, saying Arjun Singh is blaming them as a result of they constructed up actions to cease the BJP from making additional inroads within the district earlier than the 2019 meeting election.

On Thursday, Priyanka Tibrewal, a lawyer, filed a petition on the Calcutta excessive courtroom looking for CBI investigation into Shukla’s homicide. The CBI probe ought to happen underneath the supervision of the excessive courtroom, the petition mentioned. It might come up for listening to subsequent week.