The CBI has registered nine cases related to post-poll violence in West Bengal.
All the four special units of the investigating agency tasked to probe the cases of violence have moved their units from Kolkata to crime scenes across the State. The units are being secured by teams of CRPF personnel, sources said.
They said more cases are under the process of registration.
The CBI has taken over the cases following order by a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court that had entrusted the agency with the task of investigating the alleged murder and rape incidents in post-Assembly polls violence in West Bengal earlier this year.
The HC’s directives came after a committee of the National Human Rights Commission submitted a report on the violence after declaration of the Assembly poll results on May 2.
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was reelected in bitterly contested eight-phased polls.
In a unanimous judgment on a batch of PILs seeking an independent probe, the High Court bench also ordered the constitution of an SIT of State police officers to probe all other cases.
The SIT will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre. The bench will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.
Earlier, the CBI had sought details of the cases lodged by the State police.
The HC noted that there are allegations that the complainants are being threatened to withdraw the cases and a number of cases of murder being claimed as natural death without recording FIRs and conducting probes according to the procedure established by law.
The court had also underscored that the West Bengal police had not properly responded to the allegations of inaction and tried to downplay them.
“It certainly needs investigation by an independent agency,” the bench had ordered, saying three months have lapsed since the matter was taken up by the court, but “no concrete action has been taken by the state, which could inspire confidence except filing affidavits and placing on record thousands of papers.”