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Fresh CBI investigation ordered into Rizwanur Rahman's death

The court directed the CBI to treat a September 21, 2007, complaint by Rizwanur's elder brother Rukbanur Rahman to be treated as an FIR.

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The Calcutta high court today ordered the CBI to initiate fresh investigations and register a murder case in the mysterious death of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rahman, over two years after he was found dead near a railway track here.

Setting aside the CBI investigation earlier ordered by a single bench, a division bench comprising Justices Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Prasenjit Mondal directed the CBI to treat as an FIR the complaint filed by Rukbanur Rahman, elder brother of Rizwanur, on September 21, 2007.

The bench directed the investigating agency to conclude its investigation within four months.

It observed that Justice Soumitra Pal in his earlier order had only directed the CBI to investigate the cause of the death and file a report to it and had not authorised the agency to investigate the alleged crime.

The CBI had then in its report concluded that Rizwanur's death was a case of suicide and recommended initiation of an abetment to suicide case under Section 306 of the IPC.

Rizwanur was found dead near railway tracks in Dumdum area on September 21, 2007, just a month after his marriage on August 18, 2007, to Priyanka Todi, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi.

Ashok Todi, owner of the Rs 200-crore Lux Cozi hosiery brand, his brother Pradip and brother in-law Anil Sarogi are accused in the case along with senior IPS officers then serving in the Kolkata Police.

It was alleged that Rizwanur had been threatened and intimidated by senior officers of Kolkata Police at the behest of Priyanka's father and relatives in allowing her to go back to her paternal home at posh Salt Lake area, with an assurance that she would be sent back to the computer graphics teacher's
home after a week, but she was not.

Rizwanur's mother Kishwar Jahan had alleged the involvement of the then police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, deputy commissioner (Headquarters) Gyanwant Singh and deputy commissioner (Detective Department) Ajay Kumar in intimidating her son.

All the three officers had been transferred out of the Kolkata police following the CBI report recommending departmental action.

The division bench while directing the initiation of a murder case and fresh investigation by the CBI, noted the "allegations of the role of police in breaking the matrimonial tie of an adult couple."

It also noted that the Todi family had close connections with senior police officers due to their sponsoring of police programmes or through Snehaish Ganguly, a former cricketer and elder brother of former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly.

The court criticised the role of the West Bengal government observing that it was indecisive and vacillating in deciding on the course of action following huge uproar over the death.

The GRP was first entrusted with the investigations following which the state government ordered a CID investigation.

After this the state instituted a judicial probe by a retired high court judge, which was withdrawn after the CBI probe was ordered by the Calcutta High Court on October 16, 2007.

"We fail to appreciate why the CID stopped all investigation after October 16 and handed over all original records to the CBI despite there being no such order from the high court," the division bench observed.

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