West Bengal: Mamata govt forms SIT to probe post-poll violence

Deploys five zones and 10 IPS officers to probe minor cases of violence

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R If the CBI created four zones to investigate post-poll violence which are grave in nature, the West Bengal government has created five zones to probe minor incidents of violence that took place after the election results were out on May 2. The government has deployed 10 IPS officers—mostly in the ADG, IG and DIG-rank—across the state for the same. These include high-profile officers, including S. N. Gupta, ADG South Bengal; Sanjay Singh, ADG western range; and Tanmoy Roychowdhury, additional commissioner of Kolkata police.

One zone each has been created for Kolkata, South 24 and North 24 Parganas. The other two are each for the western belt and the northern belt.

The team would be evaluated by a three-member team headed by Suman Bala Sahoo, DG (communications). The other two members in the team would be Kolkata police commissioner, Soumen Mitra and IG-rank officer Ranvir Kumar. The work of the SIT team will be further monitored by a Supreme Court retired justice whose name is yet to be mentioned by the court.

There was a delay of almost a fortnight to create the SIT team, despite Sahoo writing to the government about the Calcutta High Court order. The state government has set up the team just before it has decided to move the Supreme Court on Wednesday.