The Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred to the CBI the probe into the criminal cases registered against BJP leader and advocate Kabir Shankar Bose by the Bengal government in 2020.

The court cited the “politically charged atmosphere” in the state for the transfer of the cases to the CBI. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee is the estranged father-in-law of Bose.

“.... Thus, looking to the facts of this case
particularly, that respondent No. 7 (Kalyan Banerjee) is a parliamentarian from the ruling party in the State of West Bengal and that the petitioner belongs to the ruling party at the Centre, the politically charged atmosphere in the State of West Bengal may not be very conducive to a fair investigation being conducted in the instant case. It is, hence, considered appropriate that instead of keeping the investigation pending for an indefinite period, the investigation be transferred to the CBI,” a bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Pankaj Mithal said in a judgment.

The court passed the judgment on a petition by Bose for the transfer of the case to CBI or any independent SIT.