2 get life term in Sagar Ghosh murder case

A court here today sentenced two men to life imprisonment in the controversial case of Sagar Ghosh's murder that was reported from Birbhum district during the time of the 2013 panchayat polls in West Bengal.

Birbhum District and Sessions Judge Parthasarathi Sen sentenced Bhagirath Ghosh and Subrata Roy to life imprisonment in the case, while acquitting six others.

Sagar Ghosh was shot at his residence in a village under the Parui police station on the night of July 21, 2013. He had succumbed to his injuries two days later.

Ghosh's son, Hriday Ghosh, had won as an Independent in the panchayat polls after being denied a ticket by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.

The police had arrested four persons, but the family of the deceased had claimed that they were innocent.

The family had subsequently lodged a second complaint, naming 44 persons, including the TMC's Birbhum district chief, Anubrata Mondal.

Alleging bias against the district police, Hriday Ghosh had moved the Calcutta High Court, which had ordered a CID probe in the case in December, 2013.

Unhappy over the progress of the CID probe, the high court had directed the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) in 2014.

Mondal was not named in the chargesheet filed by the SIT and charges were framed against eight persons only.

Since 2013, the case was moved from the trial court to the Supreme Court via the Calcutta High Court. It was finally re-sent for trial to the Suri court that pronounced its verdict today.