A division bench of the high court on Friday upheld an order by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the court for a CBI probe into the alleged murder of Bally Trinamul Congress leader Tapan Dutta 11 years ago.
The division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Friday declined to modify or interfere in the order passed by Justice Mantha on April 12, 2022.
Dutta, then vice-president of Trinamul’s Bally Jagachha unit in Howrah, was shot dead on May 6, 2011.
He was leading a movement to stop filling a 750-acre wetland, which allegedly angered some other leaders of his party. Arup Roy, a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s government, was an accused.
The state had ordered a CID probe and the agency gave a clean chit to the minister.
Dutta’s widow Pratima had fought a long legal battle to prosecute the culprits and even after completion of the trial against the other accused, she continued to demand a CBI investigation.
Following Pratima’s petition, Justice Mantha had in April said that for the sake of a comprehensive, honest and fair probe, a central agency should be asked to conduct a fresh investigation.