West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to change hands in the probe of Garden Reach violence and the sub-inspector’s murder received a blow as the Criminal Investigation Department sought the assistance of the Kolkata police, instead of investigating the cases alone. The CID prefers a “joint probe”.
On February 14, the chief minister had handed over the probe to CID after taking it away from the city police’s Detective Department with the removal of Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda from the police commissioner’s post.
With its hands full with several other important cases across the state, the CID officers are facing challenges in dealing with the new cases which are much more related to the city. This became evident after a meeting between the CID and the Detective Department officers on Sunday.
Additional director general of police (CID) Sibaji Ghosh called the meeting at the state detective agency’s headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan. CID’s special inspector-general of police Vineet Kumar Goyal who has been entrusted with the probe was present. So were the DD chief and joint commissioner of police (Crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh and his subordinates: assistant commissioner of police (Anti-Rowdy Section) Baidya Nath Saha and officer-in-charge (OC) of the homicide section Atanu Banerjee.
Deputy commissioner of police (Port) V. Solomon Nesakumar and OC (Garden Reach police station) Ram Thapa were among others who were present.
After the meeting, the joint commissioner of police (Crime) said: “The meeting was held to ensure all kinds of cooperation and better coordination between the CID and DD.” Asked whether a joint probe would be carried out in the case, he added: “It can happen obviously.”
What transpired at the meeting was that since the DD’s focus is on tackling crimes in the city, the CID will utilise its intelligence network to arrest the accused and prosecute them, sources revealed. One of the reasons the CID sought the help of the DD is its lack of human resources and capability of working in a volatile area in the city like the Port, an officer hinted. He explained, “In case, the CID needs to conduct a raid there, support of armed police and local police officers who have better knowledge about the lanes and bylanes would be required.”
Meanwhile, Abdur Rahman and Tahir Hussain, who were arrested on Saturday in connection with the case, were remanded by the Alipore court in police custody till February 25.