The CBI has registered nine cases of post-election violence in Bengal

(PTI) New delhi date. 3

The CBI has registered nine cases of post-election violence in West Bengal, sources said on Thursday. Four special CBI units have arrived in Kolkata to probe serious crimes in West Bengal.

Sources added that the process of registering more cases is underway as the state government hands over the case to the CBI. The CBI has launched an inquiry into alleged murder and rape during post-election violence in West Bengal on the instructions of a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court. The High Court had ordered a CBI probe on the basis of a report by a committee of the National Human Rights Commission on post-election violence in the state.

The Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, won a landslide victory over the BJP in the eight-phase assembly elections. However, violence against BJP supporters erupted in the state on May 2 after the results were declared. According to the report of the Human Rights Committee, the violence was carried out to teach a lesson to BJP supporters, in which several BJP supporters were allegedly killed and there were incidents of rape. There were also incidents of arson and vandalism in many places.

A bench of the Calcutta High Court also ordered the formation of a SIT for non-violent incidents other than murder and rape. A bench of the high court will oversee the probe by both the CBI and the SIT. The bench has asked both the investigating agencies to submit a status report within six weeks. The bench said that in many cases, the complainants were being threatened to withdraw the case and it was also claimed that some of the murder cases had resulted in natural death without registering an FIR. As the police remained inactive during the violence in Bengal, an independent inquiry into these violent incidents is required.