Overview

• On August 4, a division bench of Justices Debangshu Basak and Prasenjit Biswas dismissed Sheikh Shahjahan’s challenge to Justice Joy Sengupta’s June 30 order for a CBI investigation into the 2019 killing of three BJP workers.
• The CBI registered an FIR in July and has set up a special investigation team under a joint director, with the probe to be monitored by the Calcutta High Court.
• Victims’ families, supported by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, had moved the High Court in January alleging that the state CID removed Shahjahan’s name from the charge sheet and seeking a central inquiry.
• Sheikh Shahjahan, a suspended Trinamool Congress leader and prime accused in the Sandeshkhali case, remains in judicial custody on charges including the murders and an attack on ED officers in January 2024.
• The ruling underscores intensified judicial oversight in politically sensitive investigations and highlights tensions between West Bengal authorities and central agencies over probe impartiality.