Kolkata, Nov. 30 -- The Calcutta High Court has refused to transfer the investigation into a July 2024 custodial death at Midnapore Central Correctional Home to the Central Bureau of Investigation, directing instead that the state CID will complete the probe "fairly, impartially and in accordance with law."

The petitioner's son had been arrested in connection with an alleged kidnapping reported at Keshpur on 10 June 2024. He and the victim were traced to Himachal Pradesh, produced before the jurisdictional magistrate on transit remand and brought back to West Bengal.

On being produced before the Tamluk court, he was remanded to judicial custody till 12 July 2024 and lodged at Midnapore Central Correctional Home. On 5 July 2024, he was found dead inside the Correctional Home, allegedly hanging himself with a "gamchha" from a tree near the medical kitchen. An unnatural-death case was registered.

His mother alleged that he had been murdered with the involvement of correctional staff and that the inquest and autopsy were conducted improperly. She sought a CBI probe along with preservation of CCTV footage and a video-recorded autopsy. A coordinate bench had already transferred the probe to the CID by an order dated 26 September 2024, and the present bench examined the progress made since then. The bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh scrutinised the CID's case diary and recorded that the agency had collected CCTV footage of the Correctional Home, examined family members, co-inmates and jail officials, and obtained forensic materials, including viscera reports. The autopsy surgeon reported no external or internal injuries, and no trace of poisoning, and the viscera analysis also did not detect poison. The autopsy reflected an opinion of suicide. While noting the petitioner's allegation of foul play, the court found no prima facie lapse on the part of the CID.

It observed that investigative steps had been completed and held that transferring the matter to another agency at this stage would not serve any meaningful purpose. Disposing of the petition, the bench directed the CID to take the investigation "to its logical conclusion" as expeditiously as possible.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.