Tapas Paul case: Mamata government okay with CID probe

A day after being rapped for inaction, the West Bengal government Thursday told the Calcutta High Court that it had no objection to a CID inquiry into Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Tapas Paul's "kill and rape" remarks.

Appearing before the court of Justice Nishita Mhatre in appeals filed by the state government and Paul against a single bench order directing a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), government pleader Kalyan Banerjee said the state was willing for an inquiry by the CID but in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and not under the supervision of the court.

"The state is willing to inquire into the incident on the basis of general diaries filed but in accordance with chapter 12 of the CrPC. If the court desires, we are ready to give this inquiry to a CID officer posted in the district (Nadia)," Banerjee told the court.

Chapter 12 of the CrPC deals with information to the police and their powers to investigate any offence.

However, the petitioner's counsel Aniruddha Chatterjee said it was imperative for the sake of justice, that the probe is monitored by the high court.

"When an investigating agency knows a higher authority is supervising and looking at it, it won't be able to act on its own agenda or carry out the whims of its bosses," said Chatterjee.

He contended that the police inaction in the case was malafide and intentional.

Justice Mhatre, who is hearing the appeals afresh after a division bench of Justice Girish Chandra Gupta and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty delivered a split verdict on it, Wednesday expressed displeasure over the police inaction and wondered if Paul enjoyed a special status for being a ruling party parliamentarian.

Hearing in the matter will continue Friday.

Paul, who represents Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, had created a nationwide outrage after he was caught on tapes exhorting partymen to kill CPI-M activists and threatened to unleash his boys to rape their women.