The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked IPS Damayanti Sen to oversee the probe in Deganga, Matia, Ingrejbazar and Banshdroni rape cases.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj said that past experiences have shown that Damayanti is capable of conducting an impartial inquiry, according to anandabazar.com. The chief justice's remarks are believed to have been made in the wake of an investigation into the Park Street rape case a decade ago.

Damayanti, now the special commissioner of Calcutta police, was the intelligence chief of the Calcutta police during the Park Street gang-rape case that took place a decade ago. She was the investigating officer of the incident. Coincidentally, then-Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the incident a "doctored incident". Damayanti, however, reported that rape had taken place in the wake of her investigation. She also made it public.

However, the court also said that if the IPS officer does not want to take responsibility, she can inform the court directly.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Prakash Srivastava said bluntly, "Two to three incidents happened in a row. What's going on? Why such an event? I am speechless! '' Rape and gang rape have been happening in different districts of the state for the last few days. The chief justice is believed to have spoken out in that context. Incidentally, the incident of Nadia Hanskhali finds no place in the order of the Chief Justice. For the time being, state politics is in turmoil. But with Damayanti in charge, the memory of the Park Street incident is back in the public eye.

In response to the Chief Justice's remarks, State Advocate General Soumendranath Mukherjee said, "Calcutta is a safe city in the country. And such incidents happen in Delhi itself. I grew up here. Politics is involved in everything here. I apologize for what happened."

The next hearing of the case is on April 20.