The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI investigation into Birbhum violence that claimed eight lives earlier this week.

The court directed an SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a progress report by April 7, the next date of hearing of the matter.

The bench said that the CBI probe was being ordered in the interest of justice.

Eight people, including two children, were charred to death in Bogtui village of Bengal's Birbhum district in the suspected fallout of a TMC panachayat official's murder.

The bench had suo motu taken up the case of the gruesome incident.

A set of PILs seeking CBI or NIA probe into the incident were also taken up for hearing by the court along with the suo motu petition.

Notably, Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced compensation for the victims of the Bogtui carnage, ordered the arrest of Trinamul block president Anarul Hossain and admitted lapses by the police.

Sources close to her said the three-pronged approach reflected an attempt to win back the confidence of the Muslim-majority Birbhum village.

Police sources on Thursday said post-mortem reports and evidences collected by forensic experts from the scene of crime revealed that several victims of the Monday night massacre at Bogtui village in Birbhum’s Rampurhat had been brutally assaulted before they were charred to death.

Police sources said though the bodies had been charred beyond recognition, there were tell-tale signs on many to conclude that the perpetrators had brutally attacked the victims before setting houses on fire that led to eight deaths and burn injuries of three others.

“The bodies had shrunk and were charred to a point that made it difficult to medically conclude if they had been hacked to death before the houses were set on fire. However, many of the bodies had grave injuries other than burns to suggest that they had been assaulted with sharp weapons like axes commonly found in rural areas,” said a senior officer of Birbhum district police.

At Bogtui on Thursday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee hinted at victims being brutalised before they were set on fire.”To murder someone is vile, but burning the person after murder is also bad. I condemn both,” she told people on the loudhailer.

Soon after the massacre came to light early on Tuesday, some police officers had said that they suspected that the victims had been hacked before they were set on fire.

“Seven bodies were recovered from one spot. It is unusual in case of a fire. If the victims had not been physically brutalised, they would have been desperate to escape the fire and found lying here and there,” a police officer said on Thursday.

He added if they were not “dumped” at one place, the burns would have varied. “Seven bodies found from one home bore similar burns and were found at one place. This further confirmed our suspicion,” the officer added.