KOLKATA: A court in West Bengal's Burdwan district Monday sent to two days' CID custody four people arrested in connection with the killing of two Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders.
"The court of chief judicial magistrate sent the four accused -- Choton Chakrabarty, Patit Paban Tah, Surajit Tah and Gupin Mondal -- to two days CID custody although we had sought seven days. The accused will be brought to CID headquarters in Kolkata for interrogation," public prosecutor Nupur Das said.
A day after the incident Feb 22, the accused, allegedly Trinamool Congress supporters, were sent to judicial custody after the prosecution did not press for their police custody, attracting much criticism from all quarters.
Later a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Calcutta High Court demanding a high level probe by an impartial agency into the matter.
Hearing the PIL, the court March 2 expressed its displeasure over the state of investigation and asked the CID to probe the matter. The Mamata Banerjee-led state government also received flak for the delayed submission of autopsy reports of the deceased.
Following the court's rap, a sub-inspector at Burdwan police station, Durgadas Bhattacharya, was suspended Sunday for 'dereliction of duty'.
A three-member CID team Saturday grilled the four arrested so far. The team also met the wife and daughter of one of the slain leaders, former lawmaker Pradip Tah, besides neighbours and local people.
Tah, who earlier represented CPI-M from Burdwan North in the assembly, and the CPI-M's district committee member Kamal Gayen were lynched in a clash in Dewandighi Feb 22. While the Left Front blamed ruling Trinamool Congress, Banerjee linked the deaths to infighting within the CPI-M.