HC asks Centre to file affidavit on Dhulagarh NIA probe

The Calcutta High Court today sought the Centre's stand to plea for NIA probe into the incidents of violence at Dhulagarh in Howrah district last December.
A division bench Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice T Mookherjee asked the Centre and the West Bengal government to file affidavits within four weeks, detailing their respective positions on the plea by an NGO.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Kaushik Chanda submitted that he would take instructions from the central government on its stand over the prayer for an NIA probe and inform the court accordingly.
The petitioner was subsequently asked by the bench to file its counter-affidavit within another three weeks after the Centre and the state file their affidavits.

The petitioner said two groups of people had clashed last year at Dhulagarh in Howrah district in the second week of December 2016 with some of the perpetrators of the violence being outsiders.
The petitioners had prayed for an investigation by the NIA to unravel the identity of conspirators in the violence and to bring them to the book.