The High Court asked the Central agency to furnish the details during the hearing of its plea in which it had asked for the transfer of Jnaneswari train derailment trial from Jhargram to Kolkata citing security threats from the Maoists.

To the High Court’s earlier query about any video-conferencing facilities at Midnapore jail, Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court M P Srivastav today told Justice Asim Kumar Roy that the required facilities were not available between Midnapore jail and the ACJM court in Jhargram court.

With the CBI urging the High Court to shift all the arrested accused from Midnapore jail to any other jail in Kolkata, Justice Roy wanted to know the probe agency’s opinion on whether the undertrials could be shifted to the jails in Burdwan or Behrampore in Murshidabad. Justice Roy also asked the CBI’s counsel on why the agency wanted to shift the accused persons to Kolkata only.

Himangsu De, counsel of the CBI, however, said it would be difficult for the Central agency if the accused were transferred to Burdwan or Behrampore.

The High Court said the state government was not cooperating after the latter told the Bench on Thursday that it would not file an affidavit in the case. The High Court had sought a report on the situation in Jhargram stating that law and order was the state subject. The DGP of West Bengal Police, however, did not file any report on it. Justice Roy has now asked the Registrar General to collect report from DGP and IG on the security situation in Jhargram.

The counsel of an accused told the court that UAPA Act could not be applied to his client as the PCAPA was not a banned outfit.