Kolkata, April 12 (Bureau) Calcutta High court on Tuesday directed the CBI to probe the mysterious death of Niranjan Baisnab, one of the prime witnesses of Congress Councilor Tapan Kandu’s murder in West Bengal’s Jhalda, Baishnab was found hanging at his Baisnabpara house in Jhalda town of Purulia district on April 6 morning. Justice Rajasekhar Mantha after hearing the counsels of the contesting parties asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death of Baishnab, a close childhood friend of Tapan Kandu. He was also with the Congress leader when the miscreants shot him dead on March 13 in Jhalda. The court observed that Baishnab’s death seemingly has links with Kandu’s murder.
The court also directed the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) of state police to hand over all the documents to the federal probe agency and refrain from conducting any investigation on Baishnab’s death. Baishnab, considered a key witness in Kandu’s murder, was found hanging by a rope in his room on April 6, the day the CBI sleuths visited Jhalda for the first tie following the Calcutta High Court’s directive to take over the case. A purported hand-written suicide note found in the room claimed that Baishnab was under “severe stress” because of repeated phone calls from the police in connection with the Kandu’s murder. His mobile phone was also missing. “I have been under mental stress since the day I saw Tapan’s death. The scene of his death is coming back to my mind every moment. The mental stress is aggravated by the repeated calls from the police,” said the note. “I had never visited any police station in my life. This is becoming unbearable. I have taken this decision on my own and no one has forced me to take my life,” the letter added. Baisnab’s elder brother has alleged that the police had been harassing his brother since the night Tapan Kandu was murdered.