SC seeks West Bengal govt's response on plea for CBI probe into killing of BJP workers

The Supreme Court today agreed to examine a plea seeking a CBI probe into the alleged killing of three BJP workers in West Bengal after the recently held local bodies elections in the state.

The plea filed by a BJP leader alleged that family members of the victims were being threatened and FIRs had been lodged in these cases.

A bench of justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan issued notices to West Bengal and the CBI on the plea and sought their reply in four weeks.

During the hearing, BJP leader and advocate Gaurav Bhatia said that "disturbing murders" have taken place in West Bengal and police have not registered an FIR in these cases.

He said that CBI probe should be ordered and alleged that family members of the three slain BJP workers, Shaktipad Sarkar, Trilochan Mahato and Dulal Kumar, were now being threatened.

Bhatia also demanded that compensation to the tune of Rs 50 lakh and security cover be provided to the family members of the victims.

The bench said it is issuing notice in the matter.

Earlier, the apex court had refused to give an urgent hearing on the plea seeking a CBI probe into the killing of BJP workers in Purulia and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal after the recently held panchayat polls.

Shaktipada Sarkar, a BJP block president in the Mandirbazar-Dhanurhat area, was hacked tod death when he was returning home in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on July 28.

The body of a 32-year-old Dulal Kumar, a BJP worker, was found hanging from an electric pole in the Purulia district's Balarampur of West Bengal on June 2.

In the same district on May 30, the body of 18-year-old Tirlochan Mahato, also a BJP worker from Balrampur, was found hanging from a tree with a poster written in Bengali struck on his back, saying he was killed for canvassing for the BJP during panchayat election.