The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking transfer, to the CBI, of the investigation of the case relating to alleged suicide of BJP leader Debendra Nath Roy in West Bengal, noting that the Calcutta High Court has already dealt with the issue.
Disposing of the plea, a bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and R. Subhash Reddy said: “The writ petition, having been filed by the widow (Chandrima Roy) of the deceased and entertained by the High Court and directions having been issued by the High Court where liberty is reserved to the writ petitioner to renew her prayer if the investigation is concluded with the submission of the final report otherwise tainted with biasness or any undue influence on the investigating agency, we see no reason to continue further with this public interest litigation.”
The top court noted that the present petition has been filed by a lawyer and a journalist.
In August last year, the top court had sought response from the state government on this petition. The state government in its reply had denied the allegations that death of Roy was a political murder.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the West Bengal government, contended the High Court had already looked into the matter in entirety, while hearing the plea filed by the wife of the deceased and said that there was no delay in undertaking a probe into the matter.
The High Court did not find any bias on the part of the investigation agency undertaken by the CID, West Bengal, but allowed the petitioner (Roy’s wife) to renew her prayer if the final report of the investigation is “otherwise tainted with biasness or any undue influence on the investigating agency”.
“Since, this writ petition is being disposed of without affording opportunity to the respondents for an affidavit in opposition, the contentions made in the writ petition be deemed to be disputed and denied,” it said.
The BJP leader was found hanging near his home in Hemtabad area of North Dinajpur district on July 13, last year. He was elected as an MLA of the CPI-M in 2016, but joined the BJP in 2019.
(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline)
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