CBI counsel Ranjan Roy submitted that in compliance with the High Court’s order, the agency has placed the report for its consideration. “The report was placed seeking permission for filing a chargesheet to the magistrate or if the court feels whether the CBI should further investigate the case,” Roy said. After the hearing, Justice Dipankar Dutta said: “I did not read the report. I will go through it and give my view on the future course of action on February 28.”
Counsels for Ashok Todi and the five police officers accused in the case, appealed that the report be disclosed and handed over to them. Opposing the plea, the CBI counsel said, “At this stage, the report of the investigation could not be claimed by anyone. The CBI acted according to the court’s order and duly placed the report. Only judges of the High Court can question the CBI regarding its investigation.”
State Advocate General Bolai Roy alleged, “CBI was directed to investigate into the unnatural death of Rehman. But it started the investigation registering a criminal case charging Todi under section 302 of IPC. The CBI had crossed its limit, which amounts to a contempt of court.” He also contended that the tenor of the order was inquiry but the High Court passed a direction for investigation. The CBI counsel, in reply said, “Neither the state nor Todi had challenged the order. The persons who were interrogated also did not challenge the CBI. The agency conducted the probe following a direction of the court.”
Meanwhile, Advocate Pradip Ghosh, counsel of Ashok Todi, moved the plea that he will not file any affidavit unless the CBI report was handed over to him. Kalyan Banerjee, the counsel of Rehman’s family, contended that Todi and the accused police officers could not claim to see the report as they have not filed an affidavit complying with the courts orders.