Labhpur triple murder: Mukul Roy's anticipatory bail petition

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed an anticipatory bail prayer of BJP leader Mukul Roy in connection with the Labhpur triple murder case, owing to a defect in the petition.

In a supplementary charge sheet filed before a Birbhum district court last week, Roy has been implicated by the West Bengal Police in the murder case of three brothers in 2010, along with TMC MLA Manirul Islam who has joined the saffron party a few months back.

A division bench comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Suvra Ghosh, while dismissing the anticipatory bail prayer of Roy owing to a defect in it, gave him liberty to file a petition afresh.

Roy's lawyer Subhasish Dasgupta said a fresh petition seeking anticipatory bail in the case will be filed on Wednesday.

While Roy's name came up for the first time in the case, that of Islam who joined the saffron camp earlier this year reappeared in the supplementary charge sheet after it had been dropped from the previous one filed in 2014.

The supplementary charge sheet was filed on Saturday after the Calcutta High Court on September 4 directed the district police to further investigate the murders of the three brothers at Labhpur in Birbhum district.

On June 4, 2010, Dhanu Sheikh, Kotan Sheikh and Turak Sheikh were murdered at Labhpur. The victims' family lodged a complaint accusing 52 people including Manirul Islam, who had then switched from the Left Front constituent Forward Bloc to the Trinamool Congress.

His name had been dropped from the final chargesheet in 2014, after the victim's family members told the court that Islam had been named in the FIR by mistake.

However, Zarina Biwi, the victims' mother, later filed a petition in the high court claiming that she was forced to state that Islam was not involved in the case in her statement under Section 164 of CrPC.