Kolkata: Two convicted of rebel Trinamool Congress leader’s murder in 2013

Sheikh Mustafa, Sheikh Yunus, Jaldhar Das, Jagannath Das, Priyo Mukhopadhyay, Bhogirath Ghosh, Subrata Roy and Sheikh Azgar were charged with the murder in July 2014. The trial in the case was concluded on March 29.

Five accused had been released on bail while Azgar, Bhogirath Ghosh, and Subrata Roy had been in jail. Sagar Ghosh was contesting the 2013 panchayat polls as an independent after the TMC denied him a ticket. TMC’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal was among 41 people named in the FIR filed in the case. He was accused of making inflammatory speeches days before the murder.

Mondal had allegedly instigated his party members to attack independent candidates and hurl bombs at policemen if they came to their rescue.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CID probe into the murder in December 2013 following allegations of bias against the district police. It later directed the formation of a Special Investigation Team to investigate the matter after showing displeasure with the progress of the CID probe.

Justice Harish Tandon of the high court had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder. A division bench on December 3, 2017 set aside the order for the CBI probe and the case was again transferred to the lower court.