Calcutta HC orders CID probe into deaths of 2 men at Khejuri fair

Kolkata, Aug 26 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday handed investigations into the deaths of two men at a fair in Purba Medinipur district's Khejuri to the state CID.

The two men, one in his 60s and the other a 23-year-old, allegedly died on July 12 after an electric pole fell on them when they were visiting the fair. However, their families claimed that they were murdered.

The court had earlier ordered a second post-mortem examination of the two bodies.

Praying that the matter be transferred to the CBI, the families stated that they do not have faith in the investigation by the local police.

Refusing to transfer the two cases to the CBI, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had on Monday said that handing over the probe to the central agency will be a "gallery show", maintaining that the court primarily wants the investigation to be held.

"Handing over the probe to the CBI at present will be a gallery show," he had said.

On Tuesday, the court directed the additional director general (ADG) of CID to engage an officer of the rank of DIG who would form a special investigation team (SIT) from the agency's Homicide Section for probing the two cases.

Justice Ghosh directed the CID to submit a progress report on the investigation after one month, on September 25.

The court also directed that the second post-mortem report, which was submitted to it in a sealed cover by doctors of the state-run SSKM Hospital, be handed over to the investigating officer of the CID.

During the hearing of the matter on Monday, Justice Ghosh had said that the question in the matter is the opinion of the post-mortem doctors.

He said that there must be a difference between death caused by electrocution and death caused by assault.

The families of the deceased claimed that there were injury marks on the body of one of the deceased.

Maintaining that they were assaulted to death and did not die of electrocution while attending the fair, as claimed by the police, the kin of the two deceased pleaded for the transfer of the investigation to the CBI.

Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Dutta claimed that when a dead body is kept in a morgue, certain marks come up on it which sometimes wrongly give an impression of injuries on the body.

He also claimed that because of the long journey, as has happened in this case in transportation of the bodies to the state-run SSKM Hospital from Purba Medinipur district for the second post-mortem examination on orders of the high court, certain marks or breaking of bones on the bodies may take place.

The police, who earlier treated the cases as that of unnatural death, had registered FIRs after the relatives of the deceased persons alleged that they were murdered, the court noted.

While seeking the second post-mortem, the petitioners had claimed that the first post-mortem reports do not specify the actual cause of death and that the surgeon failed to note the essential features appearing on the bodies of the victims. PTI AMR SOM