A five-member fact-finding team of the Bharatiya Janata Party that was mandated to visit the Bogtui village near Rampurhat and submit a report on the killing of nine people there, has recommended sending probe teams from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to West Bengal.
On the night of March 21, nine people were burnt to death by unknown persons in Bogtui Village as a suspected fallout of the murder of a local leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress. The Mamata Banerjee government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident, but the case is now with the CBI on orders from the Calcutta High Court.
The BJP’s fact-finding team has also recommended that the central government should intervene in the matter and direct officials of All India Services like the IPS and IAS to follow the rule of law.
The committee has stated in its report that the local residents have lost faith in the state police and the West Bengal government, and have fled their homes. “There is a feeling of insecurity among them,” the report has claimed.
The committee submitted its report on Wednesday to BJP national president JP Nadda.
The panel has also raised questions on the involvement of local police and administration in the Birbhum killings. “The fire brigade vehicles were stopped from reaching the crime spot on time,” it alleged.
The report has further claimed the existence of a police-politician nexus in the area to promote illegal mining of stone, sand and coal.
The killings occurred due to a dispute over sharing of “extortion money” between TMC cadre, the report alleged.
The BJP had on March 22 constituted the five-member fact finding committee to visit the affected areas, collect evidence and submit a report at the earliest. The five members of the panel include Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brajlal, Lok Sabha MP and former Mumbai Police commissioner Satyapal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and former Karnataka IPS KC Ramamurthy, and national spokesperson and former West Bengal IPS Bharati Ghosh.
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