Kolkata, March 25 : The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the carnage at Bogtui village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where eight persons were burnt alive earlier this week. A division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj asked the CBI to take over the probe into the gruesome incident from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state government to look into the case. The bench said the facts and circumstances of the case demand that “in the interest of justice and to instill confidence in the society and to have fair investigation to dig out the truth” it is necessary to hand over the investigation to the CBI. “Accordingly, we direct the State Government to forthwith hand over the investigation of the case to CBI,” the judges said, directing the state authorities to extend full cooperation to the CBI in conducting the probe. The court asked the state police authorities, as also the SIT, not to carry out any further investigation in the matter “from the time the same is handed over to CBI”. It asked the state authorities to hand over the case papers, as also the accused and suspects who were arrested in the matter and in custody. Coming down heavily on the SIT, the bench said it has minutely examined the case diary of the incident produced before it and found though the SIT was formed on March 22, it had not made any effective contribution to date. “It has been submitted that in spite of the fact that the police station is very near to the spot of incident, the police did not reach on time and persons trapped inside the houses kept on burning.” “On minute examination of the case diary, we are of the opinion that the investigation as expected, keeping in view the gravity of the offence, has not been done. We are not mentioning the details of lacuna noticed in investigation as it may prejudice the rights of the parties. We also find that this is one such exceptional case where the requisite direction is required,” the bench said. The court gave its order after rejecting a request by the Mamata Banerjee government not to entrust the case to the federal probe agency. The court had taken suo moto cognisance of the case on Wednesday, and reserved its verdict on Thursday after hearing all parties. SSP ARN