Eleven years after Trinamul Congress leader Tapan Datta was murdered in Howrah’s Bally, Calcutta High Court on Thursday handed the investigation to the CBI.

Dutta, 48, then vice-president of Trinamul’s Bally-Jagachha block unit, was shot dead near Bally station on May 6, 2011, for allegedly resisting filling of a water body for a realty project.

An FIR by Dutta’s wife Protima in 2011 alleged that the movement to protect the water body, Joypur Bill, had been started by minister Arup Roy and his associates, including Ashish Gayen, Sasthi Gayen and Ramesh Mahato.

But after a few days, she said, Roy and his associates withdrew from the protest and asked Dutta to follow suit, which he did not.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the high court, while handing the probe to the CBI, held that the role of prosecution and that of the Howrah criminal court in the matter was not transparent.

“For the sake of better justice, the CBI should investigate the matter,” the order said.

The order said “the court’s mind is not free” from doubt that the murder had resulted from rivalry and conspiracy.

“The victim might have been obstructing huge monetary and/or political gains that some persons were after. Such persons are politically powerful and well-connected. A fair and effective investigation may indeed open a can of worms or expose any likely role of influential persons,” Justice Mantha’s order said.

Protima, who was a panchayat member, quit Trinamul soon after her husband's murder and held Arup Roy, the state’s minister for agricultural marketing, as the prime accused on several occasions.

On Thursday, she said she was happy that the probe had been handed to the CBI.

“While I had to stay confined in our home with my daughters, those accused of murdering my husband would roam around freely without any fear of being arrested,” Protima said. “I’m relieved that the court has handed the probe to the CBI.”

The CID while probing the murder had drawn up a chargesheet within months naming 11 persons, including Roy, as accused.

“The supplementary chargesheet did not have Roy’s name,” said a lawyer representing Protima.

Protima’s counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said the state government had twice moved the Supreme Court to ensure the CBI was not handed the probe.

The high court has ordered CBI investigation into several cases since Trinamul came to power for the third time in 2021.

Some of the cases being investigated by the CBI include

• Post-poll violence
• Hanskhali rape and murder
• Recruitment of Class IX and X teachers by SSC
• Recruitment of Group C and D staff for schools by SSC