Calcutta High Court on Monday rejected the CBI’s prayer seeking the quashing of proceedings drawn against its officials by the state CID in the Bara Lalan Sheikh death case.

Justice Joy Sengupta of Calcutta High Court, while rejecting the CBI’s prayer, asked the state to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) within the CID, headed by IPS officer Pranab Kumar, and hand it the probe into the death of Lalan while in CBI custody.

The judge made it clear that the court would monitor the investigation by the SIT and that prior approval of the court would be needed before any action on the basis of its investigation.

Justice Sengupta, in his order on Monday, also stated that the officers who were at present engaged in conducting a probe into the case would not be allowed to become members of the SIT.

Lalan, one of the main accused of the Bogtui carnage of March 2022 that left 10 persons dead, had been arrested by the CBI on December 4 last year, after the case was handed over to the central investigating agency by Calcutta High Court.

However, on December 12, Lalan was found hanging in the central agency’s camp office in Birbhum subdivision Rampurhat.

The CBI had initially claimed that Lalan had committed suicide by hanging himself from the roof of a toilet in the camp office.

However, Lalan's wife lodged a complaint with the state police alleging that he was murdered inside the CBI camp office. She also accused the investigators of having demanded money from Lalan and the family prior to his death.

Following the wife's complaint, the CID initiated an investigation into the case, accusing four CBI officials of forcing Lalan to commit suicide.

The CBI in January had moved Calcutta High Court, seeking the quashing of the probe by the CID.

The central agency had pleaded in court that its ongoing probe into the Bogtui carnage would be disturbed if the state agency was allowed to continue its investigation into Lalan's death.

After hearing the plea, the court passed an interim order allowing the CID to continue with its investigation but restrained it from taking any coercive measure against any CBI official without the court's approval.

On Monday, the high court bench in its fresh judgment asked the state government to form an SIT within the CID so as to conduct the investigation into Lalan's death in CBI custody.