The Calcutta High Court on Thursday transferred the probe into the violence in the Howrah, Hooghly and Dalkhola districts of West Bengal on the occasion of Ram Navami this year to the National Investigation Agency.
A division bench of the High Court led by the Acting Chief Justice also ordered the West Bengal Police to hand over all documents, records and CCTV footage related to the probe to the central agency within two weeks.
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The High Court’s order came on a plea filed by BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari.
Adhikari’s plea came following incidents of large-scale violence in the state during the Ram Navami celebrations in March this year. Several vehicles were torched, shops were ransacked and stone-pelting was reported in clashes between two groups in the Howrah district of the state. Violent clashes were also reported in the Hooghly and Dalkhola districts.
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The reports of violence triggered a war of words between the Trinamool Congress and the Opposition BJP in the state, blaming each other for the violence. The two rival parties also released videos claiming proof of the other’s involvement in the clashes.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of orchestrating violence in the state to stoke communal tension, Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee took potshots at Adhikari’s plea in the High Court, stating that the BJP wanted a central body to probe the violence to evade action.
The BJP, on the other hand, has accused the Mamata Banerjee government of indulging in the politics of appeasement and claimed that “Hindus are under threat in West Bengal”.
