CBI accused of theft by Lalan Sheikh’s wife

Kolkata, Dec 19 (PTI) The widow of Lalan Sheikh, the main accused in the Bogtui massacre who died in CBI custody, has lodged a police complaint alleging theft by the central investigating agency, an official of the probe body said on Monday.

Reshma Bibi in her complaint filed at Rampurhat in Birbhum district on Sunday alleged that “valuable articles” were missing from their residence after CBI sleuths visited it with Sheikh. The residence was sealed thereafter, the police said.

“Since the house was locked by CBI and the articles went missing after it, Reshma Bibi is accusing the CBI,” an official of the state CID, which is investigating Sheikh’s death, said.

This is her second police complaint in a week after the first one on December 13 in which she had alleged that CBI officers had threatened to kill her husband during their visit to Bogtui village in the course of the H C-ordered investigation and blamed the central probe agency for his death.

Sheikh was found dead inside the washroom of the temporary office of CBI at Rampurhat on December 12.

The CID acting on another FIR lodged by Reshma Bibi, has sought from CBI a detailed report on Sheikh’s custodial death, the official added.

“We have sought a report from the CBI about Sheikh’s death in its custody. We have also sought the video footage from it,” he said.

The CID has asked CBI to provide details on the number of officers and sequence of events on the day when Sheikh was found hanging inside in CBI’s temporary office.
The CID has visited the guest house twice and collected evidence from it. The officer said that the CID will be tallying the CBI report with their findings.

Its sleuths have spoken to Sheikh’s wife, daughter and others who were present at his Bogtui residence when CBI officers had taken him there on the afternoon of December 12, hours before his body was found inside the washroom.

CBI emptied the guest house at Rampurhat and shifted all its officers following a demonstration by Sheikh’s family members and other villagers of Bogtui who demanded the arrest of the investigators of the central agency.

Sheikh was seen in CCTV footage throwing bombs aiming at residences in Bogtui on the night of March 21 following the murder of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh, CBI had claimed.

In the massacre 10 people had succumbed to burn injuries in the incident after the murder of local TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh on March 21 this year.

The central probe agency had registered a case on March 25 against 22 accused in compliance with the Calcutta High Court order and over 15 people were arrested by it for thier involvement in the massacre.