National

Birbhum case: CBI moves local court for polygraph test permission on 8 arrested

As part of its investigation into last month's Birbhum killings in Bengal, the CBI moved a local court on Wednesday to seek permission for conducting polygraph tests on eight people arrested in the case, including TMC leader Anarul Hossain, an official of the probe agency said on Wednesday.

Birbhum case: CBI moves local court for polygraph test permission on 8 arrested
info_icon

He said the polygraph test is "necessary" to take forward the investigation. "We need to double-check what Hossain and others have been telling us during their interrogation," the CBI official told the press. Miscreants had attacked and set fire to houses in Birbhum's Bogtui village on March 21, killing nine people, including children, following TMC panchayat official Bhadu Sheikh's murder. The Calcutta High Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a probe into the massacre that happened after Sheikh's murder.


Earlier, an SIT formed by the West Bengal government was probing the case. However, the TMC panchayat official's murder is being investigated by the district police. During the day, a team of CBI sleuths visited the residences of Sona Sheikh and Fatik Sheikh, two Bogtui residents whose houses were set ablaze, and collected requisite samples. "Necessary samples have been collected from their residences today. We plan to send them for forensic tests," the CBI official said. According to the official, Sona Sheikh, wanted by the police for his involvement in a local dispute, had been on the run for over a year.