Within 48 hours of the carnage in which nearly 150 lives were lost, Pillai called West Bengal Chief Secretary Ardhendu Sen and asked him for the state government’s opinion on a railway minister’s request for a CBI probe. When Sen told him that the state government had no problem with it, Pillai told him to get in touch with the chief minister and elicit his opinion. Later, Sen called back Pillai and said that Bhattacharjee had given a green signal to it.

On Monday, when Pillai wrote a formal letter to Sen seeking the state government’s approval for a CBI inquiry, things started to change. The Indian Express has accessed a copy of the letter, which referred to the ‘telephonic conversation’ between Sen and Pillai and asked for the state’s concurrence for a CBI probe.

According to a senior CPM state secretariat member, the CM was of the understanding that the Centre wanted a CBI probe only to look into the Maoist connection and nothing beyond that. But Pillai’s letter clearly stated that CBI inquiry would encompass everything related to the accident. “The CM’s aversion to any CBI inquiry is a legend. In fact, our party’s known stand is that since law and order is a state subject, the CBI should not step into the state’s turf. But when Bhattacharjee found that the CBI would probe into the whole incident he backtracked, as the CID was already investigating into the case,” a senior CPM leader said.