CID has handed Darivit murder case papers to NIA: CS Gopalika tells Calcutta HC

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Secretary, BP Gopalika on Monday informed the Calcutta High Court that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had handed over all documents related to the probe in the murder of Tapas Burman and Rajesh Sarkar, to the NIA.

Both were former students of Darivit High School and were killed in September 2018.

Chief Secretary Gopalika, along with state Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and Additional Director General of CID, Dr R Rajasekaran, appeared virtually in front of the single-judge Bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Monday afternoon.

There the Chief Secretary informed the court of the handover of the probe-related documents to the NIA.

To recall, on April 12, Justice Mantha first directed the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and the ADG (CID) to be physically present in front of his Bench.

Justice Mantha also warned of issuing arrest warrants against them if they failed to appear.

However, following the plea from state Advocate General Kishore Datta, Justice Mantha partially amended his order and allowed the two bureaucrats and the police officer to be present virtually.

On Monday Justice Mantha said that despite being the top administrative officials of the state, it is their duty to honour a court order asking them to be present. He also observed that it was a question of the “dignity of the chair of judiciary.”

Earlier this month, the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench of Chief Justice, TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya had upheld an earlier order by Justice Mantha for an NIA probe in the Darivit killings.

Justice Mantha issued a “contempt of court” rule against the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and ADG (CID) for non-compliance with the order by his Bench in May 2023 for the handover of the investigation to the NIA and paying compensation to the families of the victims.