New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday withdrew nearly 20 petitions it had filed in the Supreme Court asking that trials in the 2021 West Bengal post-poll violence cases be held outside the state. The agency said the reasons for making that request no longer applied.
A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, and including Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, allowed the CBI to withdraw the petitions.
“We are seeking to withdraw owing to changed circumstances,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench.
The CBI had filed these petitions in 2023, when Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress government was in power in West Bengal. The agency had said witnesses and complainants were being threatened, prosecution lawyers faced intimidation, and fair trials may not be possible in the state, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Earlier this year, the BJP defeated the Banerjee-led government in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Probe Continues
Meanwhile West Bengal police are still examining complaints connected to the trouble that followed the 2021 election results. The CID has taken up 458 new complaints, filed 181 fresh police cases, and brought back 59 matters that had earlier been shut.
The unrest reportedly included assaults, intimidation, and families being made to flee their homes in different parts of the state.
The Supreme Court had earlier put the trials on hold after being told that people involved in the cases were facing threats. The court wanted to ensure that the proceedings could take place