The Supreme Court Wednesday transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into two FIRs registered against West Bengal BJP leader Kabir Shankar Bose pertaining to the 2020 scuffle between his security personnel of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and ruling Trinamul Congress workers.
Transferring the investigation to the CBI in two FIRs registered against Kabir Shankar Bose on 7 December, 2020, in Serampore, West Bengal, a Bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Pankaj Mithal in a judgment today said, “We do not feel that any prejudice would be caused to either of the parties if the investigation is conducted by an independent agency other than the state police.”
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The incident of scuffle involving Kabir Shankar Bose, his CISF security personnel and the TMC workers took place on 6 December.
The court in its order directed the state police to handover the investigation pertaining to two FIRs to the CBI along with all records, for its completion so that, if necessary, the trial may commence and justice is done to the parties.
Noting that the issue involves TMC Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee and the BJP leader in West Bengal Kabir Shankar Bose, Justice Pankaj Mithal speaking for the Bench said, “… the politically charged atmosphere in the state of West Bengal may not be very conducive to a fair investigation being conducted in the instant case. It is, hence, considered appropriate that instead of keeping the investigation pending for an indefinite period, the investigation be transferred to the CBI.”
Further noting that since the investigation involves the role of CISF or its personnel, the judgment said that thus it could not be left in the hands of the local police for reasons of “conflicting interests”.
Kabir Shankar Bose was married to the daughter of Kalyan Banerjee in 2010 but their relationship turned sour resulting in divorce in 2018. The marriage was dissolved by the top court on 6 March, 2018, wherein apart from dissolution of marriage, the top court ordered that all pending litigations between the parties would stand quashed.
However, Kabir Shankar Bose alleged that even after the divorce and quashing of cases, Kalyan Banerjee continued to harass him.
Initially what was a family feud, later appears to have taken political colours.
