A division bench of Calcutta High Court headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava on Thursday reserved its judgement after completing the hearing of the suo motu proceedings into the massacre of eight persons, including six women and one child, at Bogtui village in Birbhum’s Rampurhat late on Monday night.

As ordered by the bench on Wednesday, the state advocate general on Thursday submitted a progress report of the SIT investigation and case diary to the court.

Going through the SIT progress report, the Chief Justice wondered why the statements of the victims were written in English. The advocate general said it was so because a doctor had taken the statements.

Three major Opposition parties of the state — the BJP, the CPM and the Congress — had been added as parties to the suo motu proceedings on Wednesday. Lawyers for the three parties had sought a probe by either the CBI or the NIA but the court on Wednesday held that the state government’s special investigation team (SIT) should get adequate time to complete its investigation impartially and independently.

On Thursday, lawyers for the Opposition parties again demanded a CBI or NIA probe.

At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, the bench said the order would be delivered later.

State advocate general S.N. Mukherjee said the state-appointed SIT was probing the matter and a preliminary report had been sent to the Union government.

“It seems that the Centre is satisfied with the progress of investigation into the case. So, there is no need to disturb the SIT now,” he told the court.

Reading the SIT report, the Chief Justice asked the AG: “Were the victims learned? Why have their statements been recorded in English? According to norms, statements should be written in the language the victim converses in.” The AG replied: “A doctor at the hospital had taken the statements and so it was written in English.”

Going through the case diary, the Chief Justice wanted to know what “DR”, “DP” and “DA” meant.

The AG said DR meant date of recording, DP the time the force left the police station and DA the arrival of the force on the spot.

Mukherjee also informed the court that 31 CCTV cameras had been installed at the scene of crime in Bogtui and the Central Forensic Laboratory had been informed about the court order.

“A team from CFL is likely to come to visit the spot today or tomorrow (Thursday or Friday),” the AG said.