Kolkata, October 27
The special court of Calcutta Metropolitan Magistrate today issued the arrest warrants against the three prime accused in the Rizwanur murder case - businessman Ashok Todi, his brother Pradip and their relative, Anil Sarogi.
Immediately after getting the court’s order, the CBI officials raided the Todi family residence at salt Lake, their office and other places but they could not be found. The CBI, however, continued its search operation on the airport, the railway stations and other places had been put on alert. The CBI also sent messages to its office in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and other places, where the Todis visit frequently on business purposes.
Another accused, Md Mahiuddin (Pappu), the family friend, who was present in the court was arrested immediately and has been sent to custody till November 10 at the order of the 14th judge of the CMM, Bivash Chatterjee.
But the three other accused, who had been already granted bail by the session court, were directed to re-appear before the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench on November 3 in a separate case filed by the Rizwanur’s family.
Rizwanur Rahman had fallen in love with businessman Ashok Todi’s daughter Priyanka and they married on August 16, 2007 under the special marriage act, which the Todi family did not approve of.
Instead, the Todi family had engaged the Lalbazar police officials to force the newly married couple to break the marriage and also bring back Priyanka to their family. But both Rizwanur and Priyanka disagreed.
Afterwards, Rizwanur and Priyanka had been called at Lalbazar several times and they were grilled and threatened with dire consequences by the police officials. On September 21, 2007, Rizwanur’s body was found mysteriously near the railway track at Dum Dum junction.
The incident soon caused furore everywhere in the city and elsewhere. Rizwanur’s family, relatives and friends alleged that he had been murdered at the instance of the Todi family. Mamata Banerjee and several other opposition leaders also made the same allegations and demanded an independent inquiry and arrest of the culprits.
The bereaved mother of Rizwanur, Kaishar Jehan, wanted justice from Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice and also demanded the punishment of the people involved in the death of her son.
At today’s judgment of the CMM, the bereaved mother expressed satisfaction that the guilty men had been identified and punished. Mamata was also happy that the court at last had given its right ruling. She hoped that the higher court would not release the guilty persons.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had ordered a CID inquiry, which both Rizwanur’s family members and Mamata Banerjee rejected. They demanded a CBI probe, which different human rights organisations and social welfare institutions in the country and several prominent citizens also simultaneously made. But the Chief Minister was reluctant.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, S.S. Nirrjar then directed the CBI to submit its report to the high court’s Division Bench.
Accordingly, the CBI conducted an in-depth probe into the mysterious death and finally submitted its report to the Chief Justice’s Bench in which it was stated that Rizwanur was not murdered but he was forced to commit suicide on pressure from the Todis, their relatives, friends and a few senior police officials at Lalbazar.
The CBI also framed charges against the accused people who had also been chargesheeted. The CBI also indicted former police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee and DC (headquarters) Gyanbant Singh in their report and recommended for departmental actions against them by the state government.
