A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the massacre in Bogtui, the Birbhum village where eight people were killed on Monday night in apparent retaliation to the murder of a local Trinamul strongman.

The bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj said the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Bengal government had made no “effective contribution” and referred to “an allegation of an attempt to wipe off the evidence”.

It directed the state government to immediately hand over to the CBI all relevant documents and the suspects arrested by the SIT, and cooperate with the central agency. It said the Bengal police or the SIT should not carry out any further investigations in the case.

On Wednesday, the bench had observed that the SIT should be given time to conduct its probe.

Friday’s 14-page court order said: “(The) CBI will not only be handed over the case papers but also the accused and suspects who were arrested in the matter and (are) in custody. Hence, we direct the CBI to forthwith take over the investigation in the case.”

The bench directed the CBI to furnish a progress report on April 7, when the matter comes up for hearing again.

Explaining why it had ordered a CBI probe, the bench said: “We are not mentioning the details of lacuna noticed in the investigation as it may prejudice the rights of the parties. We also find that this is one such exceptional case where requisite direction is required.”

It added: “The case diary of the incident has been produced before us. We have minutely examined it. We find though the SIT was constituted on 22.03.2022 but till now there is no effective contribution of the SIT in the investigation.

“It is pertinent to mention that expeditious steps that are required to be taken to hand over the investigation to an independent investigating agency because there is an allegation of an attempt to wipe off the evidence.”

The order mentioned that the additional solicitor-general had stated before the court that the CBI had no problem taking over the investigation.

It added: “…We are of the opinion that facts and circumstances of the case demand that in the interest of justice and to instil 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.”

State advocate-general S.N. Mukherjee prayed for a stay on the operation of the judgment but was turned down.

Fearing the Bengal government might challenge the order in the Supreme Court, several state Opposition parties have filed caveats requesting the apex court to hear them before passing any verdict.

The CPM, BJP and the Congress have welcomed the handover of the probe to the CBI.

“The (high) court had noticed that the SIT investigators were sitting idle and when chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked them to arrest a key accused, they rushed and arrested him,” Congress counsel Kaustav Bagchi said.

“This had exposed how the state police work as a slave of the state government.”

The division bench had on Wednesday taken suo motu cognisance of the Bogtui massacre. The CPM, BJP and the Congress were made parties to the proceedings.

The Opposition parties’ lawyers had sought a probe by the CBI or the National Investigation Agency, and the state government had opposed the plea.